Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

If You Build It, Will They Come? A Simulation of Financial Product Holdings Among Low-to-Moderate Income Households

  • Published:
Journal of Consumer Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances was used to determine holdings of selected financial products by low-to-moderate income households, defined as households with incomes less than or equal to 80% of median household income for their region. First, we estimated determinants of holding bank accounts. Next, we estimated determinants of holding other selected products, contingent on holding a transaction account. Finally, we estimated the potential demand for these other products by households without accounts, should they become account holders. We found that if non-account holding households were to obtain accounts, they would increase their demand for credit cards, first mortgages, car loans, consumer loans, certificates of deposit, and IRA/Keogh accounts. The implications for financial institutions, policy makers, and consumer educators are presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • American Bankers Association (1998). 1998 Retail banking survey report. Washington, DC: American Bankers Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avery, R. A., Bostic, R. W., Calem, P. S., & Canner, G. B. (1997). Changes in the distribution of banking offices. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 83, 707–725.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avery, R. A., Bostic, R. W., Calem, P. S., & Canner, G. B. (1999). Trends in home purchase lending: consolidation and the community reinvestment act. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 85, 81–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, S. E., & Morgan, D. P. (1998). Risk and the democratization of credit cards. New York: Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Working Paper (June).

    Google Scholar 

  • Canedy, D. (1998). Down payments on a dream: A new approach to helping the poor save for education, housing, or small-business ventures. Ford Foundation Report (Winter).

  • Caskey, J. P. (1994). Fringe banking: Check-cashing outlets, pawnshops, and the poor. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caskey, J. P. (1997a). Beyond cash-and-carry: Financial savings, financial services, and low income households in two communities. Washington, DC: Consumer Federation of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caskey, J. P. (1997b). Lower income Americans, higher cost financial services. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Business, Filene Research Institute, Center for Credit Union Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Center for Social Development (1999). State IDA policy profiles. Retrieved August 9, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.gwbweb.wustl.edu/users/csd/ida/stateIDAprofiles.html.

  • Consumer Bankers Association (1998). 1998 CBA basic banking survey. Arlington, VA: Consumer Bankers Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Consumer Federation of America (1997). The high cost of “banking” at the corner check casher: Check cashing outlet fees and payday loans. Washington, DC: Consumer Federation of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, J. J., Lopez, J. A., & Saidenberg, M. A. (1998). How effective is lifeline making in assisting the “unbanked”? Federal Reserve Bank of New York: Current Issues in Economics and Finance, 4(6), 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Reserve Board (1997). Transcript of public hearings on Truth in Lending's Home Equity Lending and Finance Charge. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board (June 17).

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Reserve Board (1999). Fees and services of depository institutions-June 1999. Retrieved July 21, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.federalreserve. gov/boarddocs/RptCongress/1999fees.pdf.

  • Financial Services Education Coalition (1998). Helping people in your community understand basic financial services. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontana, D. (1997). Need seen to teach the poor about high-tech banking. American Banker, March 17.

  • Friedman, R. E., & Broadman, D. (1998). IDAs... what are they? Community Investments (Winter). Washington, DC: Corporation for Enterprise Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garman, T. E., & Forgue, R. E. (2000). Personal finance. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, M., & Leichter, F. S. (1998). Ranking banking: The consumer bank scorecard. New York: Office of the Public Advocate for the City of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, W. H. (1997). Econometric analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogarth and Kevin H. O'Donnell Hogarth, J. M., & O'Donnell, K. H. (1997). Being accountable: A descriptive study of unbanked households in the U.S. Proceedings of Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, pp. 58–67.

  • Hogarth, J. M., & O'Donnell, K. H. (1999). Banking relationships of lower-income families and the governmental trend toward electronic payment. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 85, 459–473.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, K. (1994). The poor need access to digital banking too. Business Week, 3400 (November 21), p. 112.

  • Hurst, E., Luoh, M. C., & Stafford, F. (1998). The wealth dynamics of American families, 1984-1994. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1, 267–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennickell, A. B. (1997). Analysis of nonresponse effects in the 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board. Working Paper on Survey Methodology of Survey of Consumer Finances.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennickell, A. B., McManus, D. A., & Woodburn, R. L. (1996). Weighting design for the 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board. Working Paper on Survey Methodology of Survey of Consumer Finances.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennickell, A. B., Starr-McCluer, M., & Sunden, A. E. (1997). Family finances in the U.S.: Recent evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 83, 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennickell, A. B., Starr-McCluer, M., & Surette, B. (2000). Recent changes in U.S. family finances: Results from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 86, 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennickell, A. B., & Woodburn, R. L. (1997). Consistent weight design for the 1989, 1992, and 1995 SCFs, and the distribution of wealth. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board. Working Paper on Survey Methodology of Survey of Consumer Finances.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, J. K. (1994). Financial resources, assets, and savings behavior of low-income families from different regions. Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning, pp. 108–120.

  • Lewis, J. K., Swagler, R., & Burton, J. R. (1996). Low-income consumers' use of the alternative financial sector. Proceedings of the American Council on Consumer Interests, 42, 271–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leyser, B. (1998). Recipient concerns with the use of electronic benefit transfer systems for the delivery of state and federal benefits. National Poverty Law Center Clearinghouse Review, 32, 216–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddala, G. S. (1983). Limited-dependent and qualitative variables in econometrics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, J., Godwin, D., & Maddux, E. (1996). Barriers to effective financial management among welfare recipients. Advancing the Consumer Interest, 8 (Fall), 9–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, C., & Shelton, T. (1996). Buried treasure: A survey of New York City banks shows “lifeline law” to be best-kept consumer secret in New York. New York: New York Public Interest Research Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montalto, C. P., & Sung, J. (1996). Multiple imputation in the 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances. Financial Counseling and Planning, 7, 133–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Consumer Law Center (1999). Comments to the Treasury on ANPRM 31 CFR Chapter II: Possible regulation regarding access to accounts at financial institutions through payment service providers. Washington, DC: National Consumer Law Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oppel, R. A. (1999). The stepchildren of banking: Efforts to serve low-income areas appear to sputter. The New York Times, March 26, Sec. C, p. 1.

  • Organization for New Equality (1998). Cash, credit & EFT 99: reducing the cost of credit and capital for the urban poor. Boston, MA: Organization for a New Equality.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prescott, E. S., & Tatar, D. D. (1999) Means of payment, the unbanked, and EFT '99. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly (Fall)

  • Rubin, D. B. (1987). Multiple imputation for nonresponse in surveys. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherraden, M. (1991). Assets and the poor: A new American welfare policy. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, J. (1996). The impact of rising bank fees on the use of alternative financial services. Proceedings of American Council on Consumer Interests, 42, 275–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stegman, M. A. (1999). Savings for the poor: The hidden benefits of electronic banking. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers, L. H. (2000) Helping Americans to save more. Remarks at the Choose to Save forum, Washington, DC, April 4, 2000. Retrieved April 10, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/ps524.htm.

  • Swanson, J. A., Hogarth, J. M., & Segelken, J. B. (1993). Voices of experience: Limited resource families and financial management. Proceedings of the Family Economics and Management Conference (American Home Economics Association Meetings), pp. 13–28.

  • U.S. Department of the Treasury (1997). Mandatory EFT demographic study. OMB 15100-00-68. Washington, DC: Financial Management Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of the Treasury (1999). Electronic transfer account notice. Retrieved July 19, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.fms.treas.gov/fedreg/eta.pdf.

  • VanAuken, C. (1999). Bank One gets 250 accounts in program for poor people. American Banker Notes, 164(143), 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoo, P. S. (1998). Still charging: The growth of credit card debt between 1992 and 1995. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, January/February, pp. 19–27.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hogarth, J.M., O'Donnell, K.H. If You Build It, Will They Come? A Simulation of Financial Product Holdings Among Low-to-Moderate Income Households. Journal of Consumer Policy 23, 409–444 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007222700931

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007222700931

Keywords

Navigation