IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/qsh/wpaper/117016.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Bankruptcy Law and The Cost of Credit: The Impact of Cramdown on Mortgage Interest Rates

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Goodman
  • Adam Levitin

Abstract

Recent proposals to address housing market troubles through principal modification could increase the cost of credit in the mortgage market. We explore this possibility using historical variation in federal judicial rulings regarding whether Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers could reduce the principal owed on a home loan to the home?s market value. The practice, known as cramdown, was definitively prohibited by the Supreme Court in 1993. We find that home loans closed during the time when cramdown was allowed had interest rates 12-16 basis points higher than loans closed in the same state when cramdown was not allowed, which translates to a roughly one percent increase in monthly payments. Consistent with the theory that lenders are pricing in the risk of principal modification, interest rate increases are higher for the riskiest borrowers and zero for the least risky, as well as higher in states where Chapter 13 filing is more common.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Goodman & Adam Levitin, "undated". "Bankruptcy Law and The Cost of Credit: The Impact of Cramdown on Mortgage Interest Rates," Working Paper 117016, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    • Handle: RePEc:qsh:wpaper:117016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://scholar.harvard.edu/joshuagoodman/node/117016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reint Gropp & John Karl Scholz & Michelle J. White, 1997. "Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Supply and Demand," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 217-251.
    2. Thomas J. Fitzpatrick & James B. Thomson, 2010. "Stripdowns and bankruptcy: lessons from agricultural bankruptcy reform," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Aug.
    3. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2011. "House Prices, Home Equity-Based Borrowing, and the US Household Leverage Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2132-2156, August.
    4. Karl E. Case & John M. Quigley & Robert J. Shiller, 2011. "Wealth Effects Revisited 1978-2009," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1784, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    5. Karen M. Pence, 2006. "Foreclosing on Opportunity: State Laws and Mortgage Credit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(1), pages 177-182, February.
    6. Christopher Mayer & Karen Pence & Shane M. Sherlund, 2009. "The Rise in Mortgage Defaults," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 27-50, Winter.
    7. Berkowitz, Jeremy & Hynes, Richard, 1999. "Bankruptcy Exemptions and the Market for Mortgage Loans," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(2), pages 809-830, October.
    8. Chomsisengphet, Souphala & Elul, Ronel, 2006. "Bankruptcy exemptions, credit history, and the mortgage market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 171-188, January.
    9. Michelle J. White, 2011. "Corporate and Personal Bankruptcy Law," NBER Working Papers 17237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jeremy Berkowitz & Michelle J. White, 2004. "Bankruptcy and Small Firms' Access to Credit," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(1), pages 69-84, Spring.
    11. Lin, Emily Y. & White, Michelle J., 2001. "Bankruptcy and the Market for Mortgage and Home Improvement Loans," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 138-162, July.
    12. Jean Braucher & Dov Cohen & Robert M. Lawless, 2012. "Race, Attorney Influence, and Bankruptcy Chapter Choice," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(3), pages 393-429, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jihad Dagher & Yangfan Sun, 2014. "Borrower Protection and the Supply of Credit: Evidence from Foreclosure Laws," IMF Working Papers 2014/212, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Wenli Li & Ishani Tewari & Michelle J. White, 2019. "Using Bankruptcy to Reduce Foreclosures: Does Strip-Down of Mortgages Affect the Mortgage Market?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 59-87, February.
    3. Saad Azmat & Hira Ghaffar, 2021. "Ethical Commitments and Credit Market Regulations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 421-433, July.
    4. Montebruno, Piero & Silva, Olmo & Szumilo, Nikodem, 2021. "Judge Dread: court severity, repossession risk and demand in mortgage and housing markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114435, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Dagher, Jihad & Sun, Yangfan, 2016. "Borrower protection and the supply of credit: Evidence from foreclosure laws," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 195-209.
    6. Reed, Robert R. & LaRue, Amanda & Ume, Ejindu S., 2018. "Mortgage recourse provisions and housing prices," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 99-111.
    7. Wenli Li & Ishani Tewari & Michelle J. White, 2014. "Using Bankruptcy to Reduce Foreclosures: Does Strip-down of Mortgages Affect the Supply of Mortgage Credit?," NBER Working Papers 19952, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Rajashri Chakrabarti & Nathaniel Pattison, 2019. "Auto Credit and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform: The Impact of Eliminating Cramdowns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(12), pages 4734-4766.
    9. You Suk Kim & Steven M. Laufer & Karen Pence & Richard Stanton & Nancy Wallace, 2018. "Liquidity Crises in the Mortgage Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 49(1 (Spring), pages 347-428.
    10. Wenli Li & Ishani Tewari & Michelle White, 2014. "Using Bankruptcy to Reduce Foreclosures," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(3), pages 31-38, October.
    11. Mandai, Yu & Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2018. "Stabilize the peasant economy: Governance of foreclosure by the shogunate," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 305-327.
    12. repec:bin:bpeajo:v:49:y:2019:i:2018-01:p:347-428 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2014:i:3:p:19126471 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Wenli Li & Ishani Tewari & Michelle White, 2014. "Using Bankruptcy to Reduce Foreclosures," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(03), pages 31-38, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wenli Li & Ishani Tewari & Michelle J. White, 2014. "Using bankruptcy to reduce foreclosures: does strip-down of mortgages affect the supply of mortgage credit?," Working Papers 14-35, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    2. Chintal Desai & Gregory Elliehausen & Jevgenijs Steinbuks, 2013. "Effects of Bankruptcy Exemptions and Foreclosure Laws on Mortgage Default and Foreclosure Rates," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 391-415, October.
    3. Berger, Allen N. & Cerqueiro, Geraldo & Penas, María F., 2011. "Does debtor protection really protect debtors? Evidence from the small business credit market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1843-1857, July.
    4. Chomsisengphet, Souphala & Elul, Ronel, 2006. "Bankruptcy exemptions, credit history, and the mortgage market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 171-188, January.
    5. Aloisio Araujo & Bruno Funchal, 2015. "How Much Should Debtors be Punished in Case of Default?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 229-245, April.
    6. Michelle J. White, 2005. "Economic Analysis of Corporate and Personal Bankruptcy Law," NBER Working Papers 11536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Rajashri Chakrabarti & Nathaniel Pattison, 2019. "Auto Credit and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform: The Impact of Eliminating Cramdowns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(12), pages 4734-4766.
    8. Sarah W. Carroll & Wenli Li, 2008. "The homeownership experience of households in bankruptcy," Working Papers 08-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    9. Corradin, Stefano & Gropp, Reint & Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2016. "The effect of personal bankruptcy exemptions on investment in home equity," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 77-98.
    10. Qianqian Cao, 2014. "Bankruptcy Exemption, Home Equity and Mortgage Credit," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(4), pages 938-976, December.
    11. Jonathan Fisher & Angela Lyons, 2010. "Information and credit access: using bankruptcy as a signal," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(25), pages 3175-3193.
    12. Anil Kumar, 2018. "Do Restrictions on Home Equity Extraction Contribute to Lower Mortgage Defaults? Evidence from a Policy Discontinuity at the Texas Border," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 268-297, February.
    13. Corradin, S. & Gropp, R. & Huizinga, H.P. & Laeven, L., 2010. "Who Invests in Home Equity to Exempt Wealth from Bankruptcy?," Discussion Paper 2010-118, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    14. Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Chunlin Liu & Lawrence Mielnicki, 2005. "Impact of State Exemption Laws on Small Business Bankruptcy Decision," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(3), pages 620-635, January.
    15. Viktar Fedaseyeu, 2012. "Debt Collection Agencies and the Supply of Consumer Credit," Working Papers 442, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    16. Rodney Ramcharan & Christopher Crowe, 2013. "The Impact of House Prices on Consumer Credit: Evidence from an Internet Bank," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(6), pages 1085-1115, September.
    17. Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley & Shawn Rohlin, 2013. "How Does Bankruptcy Law Impact the Elderly's Business and Housing Decisions?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(2), pages 417-451.
    18. Li, Wenli & Oswald, Florian, 2017. "Recourse and residential mortgages: The case of Nevada," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Fedaseyeu, Viktar, 2020. "Debt collection agencies and the supply of consumer credit," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 193-221.
    20. Geraldo Cerqueiro & María Fabiana Penas, 2017. "How Does Personal Bankruptcy Law Affect Startups?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2523-2554.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:qsh:wpaper:117016. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Richard Brandon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cbrssus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.