Research

Prepaid cards can be useful, but they carry risks as well. Use these tips to help determine the best prepaid card for you. To embed our infographic to your site, simply cut and paste the code below

This infographic shows the changes in the use of plastic payments, including credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards. To embed our infographic to your site, simply just cut and paste the code below

This chapter in the State of Lending report series presents a picture of the overall financial status of U.S. consumers today. It is based on data from the Consumer Expenditure survey, the Survey of Consumer Finances, and other national data sources. These sources reveal that, since 2000, American families have faced declining real incomes,a higher cost of living, greater debt levels, and declining asset values and wealth. Rebuilding the tenuous balance sheets of American households will require access to safe and affordable credit, along with strong protections to prevent predatory lending...

Ever since the financial crisis started, the Blame Game has been a popular pastime. In this infographic, we highlight players who often get more than their share of pointing fingers. To embed our infographic to your site, simply just cut and paste the code below

Student loans can help you pay for college, but they're not all alike. This infographic shows the different features of federal vs. private loans. Read the Chapter To embed our infographic to your site, simply cut and paste the code below

Figuring out how to pay for college can be difficult. In this video, Andrea Harris (President of the NC Institute of Minority Economic Development) discusses three important things that parents and students should remember when looking for financial aid or student loans.

In the U.S. today, total student loan debt exceeds $1 trillion and nearly one in five households has a student loan. This chapter discusses factors leading to the growth in student loan debt and highlights important differences between federal and more costly private student loans. The chapter also shows the spike in student loan defaults and highlights the role of for-profit colleges in this increase. Read this chapter below or download the full report.

Debt settlement companies offer the promise of settling a consumer's debt for a fraction of what they owe. The idea is simple: debt settlement companies offer to negotiate down the outstanding debt (usually from credit cards) owed to a more manageable amount so that a consumer can become debt free. Unfortunately debt settlement carries significant risks that may result in consumers becoming even worse off. Debt settlement is inherently a risky venture: in order to enroll into debt settlement programs, consumers are required to default on their debt which often results in fees, increased...

The debt collection industry is a rapidly expanding business, with revenue increasing up to 600 percent between 2003 and 2012. Private companies buy billions of dollars of charged-off debt from banks each year. The most common type of debt purchased comes from credit cards, but debt buyers also buy student loans, medical debt and more. As the industry has grown, abuses and illegal — predatory — practices have proliferated. Companies are using abusive and unlawful methods to collect on debt — too often on debt that the targeted consumers do not even owe. This chapter covers how the industry...

Payday loans—high-cost, quick-fix loans that trap borrowers in debt by design—cost cash-strapped American families $3.4 billion in fees every year. Of that number, more than two-thirds—$2.6 billion--is a direct result of churning borrowers into loan after unaffordable loan. This churning dramatically increases payday lending fees without providing borrowers with access to new credit. Payday loans have multiple features that make them dangerous for borrowers: a lack of underwriting for affordability; annual percentage rates (APR) averaging 300%; a quick repayment period of their next payday, at...