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Financial illiteracy and mortgage refinancing decisions

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  • Bajo, Emanuele
  • Barbi, Massimiliano

Abstract

We analyze the effect of an exogenous shock to the Italian mortgage market, where a reform has abolished prepayment fees and simplified mortgage refinancing, making it a virtually cost-free decision for households. This law, along with the considerable drop in market interest rates, has generated important gains for fixed-rate borrowers, which we quantify at up to 15% of the principal balance. Nevertheless, only about 13% of borrowers have locked in this opportunity. We study the relationship between this sluggish behavior and their level of financial literacy.

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  • Bajo, Emanuele & Barbi, Massimiliano, 2018. "Financial illiteracy and mortgage refinancing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 279-296.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:94:y:2018:i:c:p:279-296
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2018.08.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Steffen Andersen & John Y. Campbell & Kasper Meisner Nielsen & Tarun Ramadorai, 2020. "Sources of Inaction in Household Finance: Evidence from the Danish Mortgage Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(10), pages 3184-3230, October.
    2. Andersen, Steffen & Campbell, John Y. & Meisner-Nielsen, Kasper & Ramadorai, Tarun, 2014. "Inattention and Inertia in Household Finance: Evidence from the Danish Mortgage Market," Scholarly Articles 17492179, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    3. Cristian Badarinza & John Y. Campbell & Tarun Ramadorai, 2016. "International Comparative Household Finance," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 111-144, October.
    4. Morshadul Hasan & Thuhid Noor & Jiechao Gao & Muhammad Usman & Mohammad Zoynul Abedin, 2023. "Rural Consumers’ Financial Literacy and Access to FinTech Services," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 780-804, June.
    5. Olafsson, Arna & Gathergood, John, 2020. "The Co-holding Puzzle: New Evidence from Transaction-Level Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 14799, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Saengchote, Kanis & Samphantharak, Krislert, 2022. "Banking relationship and default priority in consumer credit: Evidence from Thai microdata," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Brunetti, M. & Ciciretti, R. & Djordjevic, Lj., 2020. "Till mortgage do us part: Mortgage switching costs and household's bank switching," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    8. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S & Oggero, Noemi, 2020. "Understanding Debt in the Older Population," CEPR Discussion Papers 15568, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. McGowan, Féidhlim & Papadopoulos, Alexandros & Lunn, Pete, 2023. "Who switches and why? A diagnostic survey of retail financial services in Ireland," Papers WP748, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    10. Devine, Kenneth, 2022. "Refinancing Inertia in the Irish Mortgage Market," Research Technical Papers 5/RT/22, Central Bank of Ireland.
    11. Byrne, Shane & Devine, Kenneth & McCarthy, Yvonne, 2022. "Interrupting inertia: evidence from a mortgage refinancing field trial," Economic Letters 9/EL/22, Central Bank of Ireland.
    12. Steven Malliaris & Daniel A. Rettl & Ruchi Singh, 2022. "Is competition a cure for confusion? Evidence from the residential mortgage market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 206-246, March.
    13. Martin Hauptfleisch, 2019. "Financial Decision-Making Using Data," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 6-2019.
    14. Guiso, Luigi & Pozzi, Andrea & Tsoy, Anton & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Mistrulli, Paolo Emilio, 2022. "The cost of steering in financial markets: Evidence from the mortgage market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1209-1226.
    15. Timmons, Shane & Barjaková, Martina & McElvaney, Terry & Lunn, Pete, 2019. "Can official advice improve mortgage-holders’ perceptions of switching? An experimental investigation," Papers WP612, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    16. Papadopoulos, Alexandros & McGowan, Féidhlim & McGinnity, Frances & Timmons, Shane & Lunn, Pete, 2023. "Switching activity in retail financial markets in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS161, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mortgage refinancing; Financial literacy; Household finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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