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Lines of Credit and Consumption Smoothing: The Choice between Credit Cards and Home Equity Lines of Credit

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Author Info
Shubhasis Dey

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Abstract

The author models the choice between credit cards and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) within a framework where consumers hold lines of credit as instruments of consumption smoothing across state and time. Flexible repayment schemes for lines of credit induce risk-averse consumers with sufficiently high discount rates to underinsure and hold lines of credit instead as a buffer, even when they have access to full and fair insurance markets. Weighing the fixed upfront fees and higher default costs of HELOCs against the advantages of low and income-tax-deductible interest payments, the author finds a threshold level of potential borrowing belowwhich consumers prefer to use credit cards exclusively. Above that threshold, consumers decide touse HELOCs and consolidate all outstanding credit card debt into them; however, a rising probability of default and the resulting loss of equity in the home will put an upper bound on the potential HELOC borrowing that will prevent full debt consolidation.

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File URL: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/res/wp/2005/wp05-18.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Bank of Canada in its series Working Papers with number 05-18.

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Length: 26 pages
Date of creation: 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:05-18

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Postal: 234 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G9, Canada
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Web page: http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/

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Related research
Keywords: Credit and credit aggregates;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Glenn B. Canner & Thomas A. Durkin & Charles A. Luckett, 1998. "Recent developments in home equity lending," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Apr, pages 241-251. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jensen, Helen H., 2004. "Home Equity Use and the Life Cycle Hypothesis," Staff General Research Papers 11234, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  3. Ausubel, Lawrence M, 1991. "The Failure of Competition in the Credit Card Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 50-81, March.
  4. Glenn B. Canner & James T. Fergus & Charles A. Luckett, 1988. "Home equity lines of credit," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jun, pages 361-373.
  5. Paul S. Calem & Loretta J. Mester, 1995. "Consumer behavior and the stickiness of credit card interest rates," Working Papers 95-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    Other versions:
  6. Glenn B. Canner & Charles A. Luckett, 1994. "Home equity lending: evidence from recent surveys," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jul, pages 571-583.
  7. Shubhasis Dey & Gene Mumy, 2005. "Determinants of Borrowing Limits on Credit Cards," Working Papers 05-7, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  8. Christopher D. Carroll, 1992. "The Buffer-Stock Theory of Saving: Some Macroeconomic Evidence," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1992-2), pages 61-156. [Downloadable!]
  9. Brito, Dagobert L & Hartley, Peter R, 1995. "Consumer Rationality and Credit Cards," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(2), pages 400-433, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Mester, Loretta J, 1994. "Why Are Credit Card Rates Sticky?," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 505-30, May.
    Other versions:
  11. Sydney Ludvigson, 1999. "Consumption And Credit: A Model Of Time-Varying Liquidity Constraints," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(3), pages 434-447, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Deaton, Angus, 1991. "Saving and Liquidity Constraints," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(5), pages 1221-48, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. David B. Gross & Nicholas S. Souleles, 2002. "Do Liquidity Constraints And Interest Rates Matter For Consumer Behavior? Evidence From Credit Card Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 149-185, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Sangkyun Park, 1997. "Option value of credit lines as an explanation of high credit card rates," Research Paper 9702, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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