An Overview Of Consumer Finance And Policy Issues

Consumer finance refers to the saving, borrowing, and investment choices that households make over time. These financial decisions can be complex and can affect households' financial wellbeing both now and in the future. Safe and affordable financial services are an important tool for most American households to avoid financial hardship, build assets, and achieve financial security over the course of their lives. Understanding why and how consumers make financial decisions is important when considering policy issues in consumer financial markets. Households borrow money for the following common reasons: investments-such as a home or education-to build future wealth, consumption smoothing (i.e., paying later to consume things now), and emergency expenses. Most households rely on credit to finance some of these expenses, because they do not have enough money saved to pay for them. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, mortgage debt is by far the largest type of debt for households, accounting for approximately 67% of household debt. Student debt is the second-largest household debt, followed by auto loans and credit cards. Consumer financial markets generally share similar market dynamics. In all of these markets, consumers often act in similar ways when making financial decisions and firms tend to act in comparable ways to attract consumers. Therefore, the government tends to consider similar policy interventions when regulating in these markets. Competitive free markets generally lead to efficient distributions of goods and services to maximize value for society. Yet sometimes, free markets are inefficient when particular issues arise. Common issues in consumer financial markets include (1) information asymmetries between financial firms and consumers and (2) behavioral biases that predictably bias consumers when making financial decisions. In these cases, government policy can potentially correct market failures to bring the market to a more efficient outcome, maximizing social welfare. In consumer finance, three types of policy interventions are common: (1) standardized consumer disclosures; (2) regulation to prevent deceptive, unfair, or abusive financial institution practices; and (3) regulation to prevent discrimination in consumer-lending markets. Yet, policymakers need to be aware of unintended consequences of proposed policies, and often find it challenging to determine whether a policy intervention will help or harm a particular market's efficiency. In response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DoddFrank; P.L. 111-203) established the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) to implement and enforce federal consumer financial law while ensuring consumers can access financial products and services. The CFPB's authorities fall into three broad categories: rulemaking, writing regulations to implement laws under its jurisdiction; supervision, the power to examine and impose reporting requirements on financial institutions; and enforcement of various consumer protection laws and regulations. The CFPB generally has regulatory authority over providers of an array of consumer financial products and services. The major consumer financial markets include mortgage lending, student loans, automobile loans, credit cards and payments, payday loans and other credit alternative financial products, and checking accounts and substitutes. In addition, two important market structures allow these consumer financial products to be offered: (1) the consumer credit reporting system and (2) the debt collection market. These aspects of the consumer credit system facilitate the pricing of credit offers and the resolution of delinquent consumer credit products for most consumer credit markets.

This second edition of the authoritative resource summarizes the state of consumer finance research across disciplines for expert findings on—and strategies for enhancing—consumers’ economic health. New and revised chapters offer current research insights into familiar concepts (retirement saving, bankruptcy, marriage and finance) as well as the latest findings in emerging areas, including healthcare costs, online shopping, financial therapy, and the neuroscience behind buyer behavior. The expanded coverage also reviews economic challenges of diverse populations such as ethnic groups, youth, older adults, and entrepreneurs, reflecting the ubiquity of monetary issues and concerns. Underlying all chapters is the increasing importance of financial literacy training and other large-scale interventions in an era of economic transition. Among the topics covered: Consumer financial capability and well-being. Advancing financial literacy education using a framework for evaluation. Financial coaching: defining an emerging field. Consumer finance of low-income families. Financial parenting: promoting financial self-reliance of young consumers. Financial sustainability and personal finance education. Accessibly written for researchers and practitioners, this Second Edition of the Handbook of Consumer Finance Research will interest professionals involved in improving consumers’ fiscal competence. It also makes a worthwhile text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in economics, family and consumer studies, and related fields.

This article provides an introduction to a law review symposium by the Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy on our book (co-authored with Michael E. Staten), Consumer Credit and the American Economy (Oxford 2014). The conference, held November 2014, collects several articles responding to and building on the research agenda laid out by our book. For those who have not read the book, this article is intended to summarize several of the main themes of the book, including discussion of economic models of consumer credit usage, trends in consumer credit usage over time, the use of high-cost credit, and behavioral economics.

As both the twenty-first century and the new millennium opened and the old eras passed into history, individuals and organizations throughout the world advanced their listings of the most significant people and events in their respective specialties. Possibly more important, the tum of the clock and calendar also offered these same observers a good reason to glance into the crystal ball. Presumably, the past is of greatest interest to most people when it permits better understanding of the present, and maybe even limited insight into the outlook. In keeping with the reflective mood of the time, the staff and friends of the Credit Research Center (CRC) at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business noted that the beginning of the new millennium also marked the beginning of the second quarter-century of the Center's existence. The Center began at the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University in 1974 and moved to the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in 1997. The silver anniversary of its founding offered the occasion for creating more than another listing of significant past accomplishments and milestones. Rather, it offered the opportunity and, indeed, a mandate for CRC as an academic research center, to undertake a retrospective and future look into the status of research questions pertaining to consumer credit markets. For this reason, the Center organized a research conference which was held in Washington, D. C.

This incisive book gives a comprehensive overview of the regulation of consumer credit in both the US and the UK. It covers policy, procedure and the dynamics of the consumer credit relationship to advocate for a balanced approach in achieving more effective consumer protection.

Regulation of the banking industry has undergone substantial changes over the past decade. In response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, many new bank regulations were implemented pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 or under the existing authorities of bank regulators to address apparent weaknesses in the regulatory regime. Chapter 1 provides a broad overview of selected banking-related issues, including issues related to "safety and soundness" regulation, consumer protection, community banks, large banks, what type of companies should be able to establish banks, and recent market and economic trends. Chapter 2 provides a broad overview of various banking topics--key concepts in banking, overview of regulation, recent banking legislation, and policy issues.Banks generally must comply with a variety of requirements to hold minimum levels of capital. Chapter3 provides a brief overview of these requirements and examines related policy issues. Chapter 4 first provides background information on the consumer data industry and various specialty areas. It then examines one prominent specialty area--consumer scoring--and describes various factors used to calculate credit scores. Next, it provides a general description of the current regulatory framework of the consumer data industry. Finally, the chapter discusses selected policy issues pertaining to consumer data reports. Chapter 5 provides an overview of consumer lending markets, pricing, and legislative efforts designed to facilitate efficient credit allocation and pricing.The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank; P.L. 111-203) established the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) to implement and enforce federal consumer financial law while ensuring consumers can access financial products and services as reported in chapter 6. Chapter 7 reports on the results of the audits of the fiscal years 2017 and 2016 financial statements of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which is incorporated in the enclosed Financial Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for Fiscal Year 2017.Chapter 8 provides an overview of how accounting and auditing standards are created and regulated in the private sector, the federal government, and state and local governments

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook on CasebookConnect, including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities, plus an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes. Consumer Finance: Markets and Regulation is the first law school text to focus on consumer financial services markets and their regulation.Structured around clear expository text and realistic problem sets, the book provides comprehensive coverage of the regulation of consumer credit, payments, and financial data markets by federal, state, and private law, including detailed coverage of the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a powerful new federal regulatory agency.The book also acquaints students with the full range of consumer financial products, how they operate, the risks and policy issues they raise, and their regulation.In so doing, the book provides an applied look at how regulatory agencies work, offering students a practical look at how statutes and regulations interact and how regulatory agencies enforce them. New to the Second Edition: Coverage of new Regulation F, implementing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Coverage of buy-now-pay-later Coverage of retail installment sales contracts and time-price doctrine Coverage of rent-to-own contracts Expanded coverage of rent-a-bank arrangements Expanded coverage of anti-money laundering regulations Professors and students will benefit from: Detailed coverage of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new federal regulatory agency with broad authority over consumer credit, payment, deposit, and financial data markets.& Comprehensive treatment of consumer credit regulation, including mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and small dollar loans, as well as credit disclosures, usury, and fair lending regulation. State-of-the-art coverage of consumer payment systems, with detailed coverage of electronic payment systems (credit cards, debit cards, ACH) and mobile wallets. Coverage of topics not found elsewhere in law school curriculum, including anti-money laundering regulations, behavioral economics, fair lending laws, and consumer financial data privacy and data security. Free companion statutory supplement (available on website).