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Consumer revolving credit and debt over the life cycle and business cycle

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  • Scott L. Fulford
  • Scott Schuh

Abstract

Despite the centrality of credit and debt in the financial lives of Americans, little is known about how U.S. consumers' access and utilization of credit changes in the short and long term, and how these changes are related to changes in U.S. consumers' debt. This paper uses data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel (CCP), which contains a 5 percent sample of every credit account in the United States from 1999 to 2014 from the credit reporting agency Equifax. It examines how changing credit availability, debt, and utilization over the business cycle and the life cycle and across individuals relate to U.S. consumers' patterns of incurring, carrying, and paying off their debts. Much of this paper focuses on credit cards, since these have observable limits and are widely held, but the paper also briefly examines other forms of debt over the consumer life cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott L. Fulford & Scott Schuh, 2015. "Consumer revolving credit and debt over the life cycle and business cycle," Working Papers 15-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:15-17
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Iacoviello, Matteo & Pavan, Marina, 2013. "Housing and debt over the life cycle and over the business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 221-238.
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    9. Fulford, Scott L., 2015. "The surprisingly low importance of income uncertainty for precaution," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 151-171.
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    12. Fulford, Scott L., 2015. "How important is variability in consumer credit limits?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 42-63.
    13. Deaton, Angus, 1992. "Understanding Consumption," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288244.
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    Cited by:

    1. Claire Greene & Scott Schuh & Joanna Stavins, 2017. "The 2015 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice: summary results," Research Data Report 17-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    2. Guttman-Kenney, Benedict & Firth, Chris & Gathergood, John, 2023. "Buy now, pay later (BNPL) ...on your credit card," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Tal Gross & Raymond Kluender & Feng Liu & Matthew J. Notowidigdo & Jialan Wang, 2021. "The Economic Consequences of Bankruptcy Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(7), pages 2309-2341, July.
    4. G. Gulsun Akin & Ahmet Faruk Aysan & Sezgim Dasdogen & Levent Yildiran, 2019. "Credit Card Debt: Nescience or Necessity?," Working Papers 1315, Economic Research Forum, revised 21 Aug 2019.
    5. Francis Wong, 2024. "Taxing Homeowners Who Won’t Borrow," CESifo Working Paper Series 11185, CESifo.
    6. Scott L. Fulford & Scott Schuh, 2023. "Revolving versus Convenience Use of Credit Cards: Evidence from U.S. Credit Bureau Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(7), pages 1667-1701, October.
    7. Sommarat Chantarat & Atchana Lamsam & Krislert Samphantharak & Bhumjai Tangsawasdirat, 2020. "Household Debt and Delinquency over the Life Cycle," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 37(1), pages 61-92, March.
    8. Stephanie Moulton & Donald Haurin & Samuel Dodini & Maximilian D. Schmeiser, 2020. "How federally insured reverse mortgages affect the credit outcomes of older adults," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1298-1327, December.
    9. Cohen-Vernik, Dinah & Pazgal, Amit, 2017. "Price Adjustment Policy with Partial Refunds," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(4), pages 507-526.
    10. Stephanie Moulton & Donald Haurin & Samuel Dodini & Maximilian D. Schmeiser, 2016. "How Home Equity Extraction and Reverse Mortgages Affect the Credit Outcomes of Senior Households," Working Papers wp351, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    11. Sommarat Chantarat & Atchana Lamsam & Krislert Samphantharak & Bhumjai Tangsawasdirat, 2017. "Thailand's Household Debt through the Lens of Credit Bureau Data: Debt and Delinquency," PIER Discussion Papers 61, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Daniel Grodzicki & Alexei Alexandrov & Özlem Bedre-Defolie & Sergei Koulayev, 2023. "Consumer Demand for Credit Card Services," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 273-311, June.
    13. Scott L. Fulford & Scott Schuh, 2017. "Credit card utilization and consumption over the life cycle and business cycle," Working Papers 17-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    14. Kenneth Brevoort & Daniel Grodzicki & Martin B. Hackmann, 2017. "Medicaid and Financial Health," NBER Working Papers 24002, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Scott Fulford & Scott Schuh, 2020. "Credit Cards, Credit Utilization, and Consumption," Working Papers 19-07, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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