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Race, Ethnicity, and Credit Card Marketing

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  • SIMON FIRESTONE

Abstract

There is a vast literature on discrepancies in consumer credit related to race and ethnicity. I explore a pattern that was first identified in aggregate data by Han, Keys, and Li () in their study of credit access: Blacks were approximately 27% less likely to receive offers from credit card lenders during the sample period, even after controlling for variables such as credit history, household income, and local economic conditions. Hispanics were 17% less likely to receive an offer, after including controls. The discrepancy is robust to lender‐specific regressions and the inclusion of a large number of explanatory variables. My findings imply that marketing is an important area for analysis of discrimination in consumer credit. Due to the likely need for confidential information in further analysis, investigation by an appropriate regulatory agency such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would be useful.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Firestone, 2014. "Race, Ethnicity, and Credit Card Marketing," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(6), pages 1205-1224, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:46:y:2014:i:6:p:1205-1224
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12138
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sumit Agarwal & Brent W. Ambrose & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Chunlin Liu, 2011. "The Role of Soft Information in a Dynamic Contract Setting: Evidence from the Home Equity Credit Market," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(4), pages 633-655, June.
    2. 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, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 149-185.
    3. Kenneth P. Brevoort, 2011. "Credit Card Redlining Revisited," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 714-724, May.
    4. Stephen L. Ross & John Yinger, 2002. "The Color of Credit: Mortgage Discrimination, Research Methodology, and Fair-Lending Enforcement," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262182289, December.
    5. Robert F. Phillips & Robert P. Trost & Anthony M.J. Yezer, 1994. "Bias in estimates of discrimination and default in mortgage lending: the effects of simultaneity and self-selection," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, pages 197-222.
    6. Paul S. Calem & Kevin Gillen & Susan Wachter, 2004. "The Neighborhood Distribution of Subprime Mortgage Lending," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 393-410, December.
    7. Harrison, David M., 2001. "The Importance of Lender Heterogeneity in Mortgage Lending," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 285-309, March.
    8. Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Chunlin Liu, 2010. "The Importance of Adverse Selection in the Credit Card Market: Evidence from Randomized Trials of Credit Card Solicitations," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 743-754, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sondes Zouaghi, 2016. "Ethnic segmentation in marketing: a tool for social domination in France," Post-Print hal-01359110, HAL.
    2. Yiwei Dou & Geng Li & Joshua Ronen, 2019. "Does Price Regulation Affect Competition? Evidence from Credit Card Solicitations," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2019-018, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Cash, Alyxandra & Tsai, Hui-Ju, 2018. "Readability of the credit card agreements and financial charges," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 145-150.
    4. Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl & Peter Grajzl & A. Joseph Guse & Richard M. Todd & Michael Williams, 2018. "Neighborhood Racial Characteristics, Credit History, and Bankcard Credit in Indian Country," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(3), pages 410-441, September.

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