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Targeted Debt Relief and the Origins of Financial Distress: Experimental Evidence from Distressed Credit Card Borrowers

Author

Listed:
  • Dobbie, Will

    (Harvard Kennedy School and NBER)

  • Song, Jae

    (Social Security Administration)

Abstract

We study the drivers of financial distress using a large-scale field experiment that offered randomly selected borrowers a combination of (i) immediate payment reductions to target short-run liquidity constraints and (ii) delayed interest write-downs to target long-run debt constraints. We identify the separate effects of the payment reductions and interest write-downs using both the experiment and cross-sectional variation in treatment intensity. We find that the interest write-downs significantly improved both financial and labor market outcomes, despite not taking effect for three to five years. In sharp contrast, there were no positive effects of the more immediate payment reductions. These results run counter to the widespread view that financial distress is largely the result of short-run constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Dobbie, Will & Song, Jae, 2019. "Targeted Debt Relief and the Origins of Financial Distress: Experimental Evidence from Distressed Credit Card Borrowers," Working Paper Series rwp19-030, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp19-030
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    Cited by:

    1. Kleiner, Kristoph & Stoffman, Noah & Yonker, Scott E., 2021. "Friends with bankruptcy protection benefits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 578-605.
    2. Marco Di Maggio & Ankit Kalda & Vincent Yao, 2019. "Second Chance: Life without Student Debt," NBER Working Papers 25810, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Holger Mueller & Constantine Yannelis, 2022. "Increasing Enrollment in Income‐Driven Student Loan Repayment Plans: Evidence from the Navient Field Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 367-402, February.
    4. Piero Montebruno & Olmo Silva & Nikodem Szumilo, 2025. "Judge Dread: Court severity, repossession risk and demand in mortgage and housing markets," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(669), pages 1677-1710.
    5. Bruno Albuquerque & Alexandra Varadi, 2022. "Consumption effects of mortgage payment," Bank of England working papers 963, Bank of England.
    6. Aydin, Deniz, 2021. "Forbearance, Interest Rates, and Present-Value Effects in a Randomized Debt Relief Experiment," EconStor Preprints 248467, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Giorgia Barboni & Juan Camilo CÔøΩrdenas & NicolÔøΩs de Roux, 2022. "Behavioral Messages and Debt Repayment," Documentos CEDE 20257, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    8. Burke, Jeremy, 2021. "Do prize-linked incentives promote positive financial behavior? Evidence from a debt reduction intervention," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    9. Vethaak, Heike & de Bruijn, Ernst-Jan & Knoef, Marike & Koning, Pierre, 2025. "Deter and Deteriorate: The Effects of Application Processing Times on Welfare Receipt and Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 17839, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Trevor J. Bakker & Stefanie DeLuca & Eric A. English & Jamie Fogel & Nathaniel Hendren & Daniel Herbst, 2025. "Credit Access in the United States," Working Papers 25-45, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    11. Aiken, Emily & Bellue, Suzanne & Blumenstock, Joshua E. & Karlan, Dean & Udry, Christopher, 2025. "Estimating impact with surveys versus digital traces: Evidence from randomized cash transfers in Togo," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    12. Berlinger, Edina & Kiss, Hubert János & Khayouti, Sára, 2022. "Loan forbearance takeup in the Covid-era - The role of time preferences and locus of control," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    13. Sumit Agarwal & Slava Mikhed & Barry Scholnick & Man Zhang, 2022. "Reducing Strategic Default in a Financial Crisis," Working Papers 21-36, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    14. Molnár, György & Berlinger, Edina & Dobránszky-Bartus, Katalin, 2021. "Lejárt tartozások fogságában [Overdue debt as a poverty trap]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 709-735.
    15. Edina Berlinger & Sára Khayouti & Hubert János Kiss, 2022. "Time discounting predicts loan forbearance takeup," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2201, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    16. Aydin, Deniz, 2023. "Forbearance vs. Interest Rates: Tests of Liquidity and Strategic Default Triggers in a Randomized Debt Relief Experiment," EconStor Research Reports 268646, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    17. de Bruijn, Ernst-Jan & Vethaak, Heike & Koning, Pierre & Knoef, Marike, 2023. "Debt Relief for the Financially Vulnerable: Impact on Employment, Welfare Receipt, and Mental Health," IZA Discussion Papers 16336, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • K35 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Personal Bankruptcy Law

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