Regulating Consumer Financial Products: Evidence from Credit Cards

Sumit Agarwal, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Neale Mahoney and Johannes Stroebel

No 19484, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We analyze the effectiveness of consumer financial regulation by considering the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act in the United States. Using a difference-in- differences research design and a unique panel data set covering over 160 million credit card accounts, we find that regulatory limits on credit card fees reduced overall borrowing costs to consumers by an annualized 1.7% of average daily balances, with a decline of more than 5.5% for consumers with FICO scores below 660. Consistent with a model of low fee salience and limited market competition, we find no evidence of an offsetting increase in interest charges or a reduction in volume of credit, although we are unable to analyze longer-run effects on investments or industry structure. Taken together, we estimate that the CARD Act fee reductions have saved U.S. consumers $12.6 billion per year. We also analyze the CARD Act requirement to disclose the interest savings from paying off balances in 36 months rather than only making minimum payments. We find that this "nudge" increased the number of account holders making the 36-month payment value by 0.5 percentage points on a base of 5.7%.

JEL-codes: D0 D14 G0 G02 G21 G28 L0 L13 L15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-cba, nep-com and nep-mkt
Note: CF IO PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published as Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Neale Mahoney & Johannes Stroebel, 2015. "Regulating Consumer Financial Products: Evidence from Credit Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 130(1), pages 111-164.

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Journal Article: Regulating Consumer Financial Products: Evidence from Credit Cards (2015)
Working Paper: Regulating Consumer Financial Products: Evidence from Credit Cards (2014)
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