Research | Credit Card Topics

Equifax Study Shows How Consumers’ Buying Power Increases When They Get Pre-Approved for Auto Financing

By: Ray FitzGerald, 7/3/2018

In a Nutshell: If knowledge is power, then few car shoppers are as powerful as those with pre-approved financing. When a consumer is pre-approved for a loan before the shopping starts, he or she knows what they can afford and save time by not looking at cars that don’t match their buying power. Equifax recently surveyed 1,000 consumers to better understand their behaviors during the car-shopping process. The study found that 52% of prospective purchasers have undergone a credit... read more »

Experian Studies Show How Alternate Data Sources Could Provide Consumers with Better Access to Affordable Credit

By: Ray FitzGerald, 6/26/2018

In a Nutshell: Credit scoring agencies have used the same data to determine credit scores for years, which renders a lot of important payment information — think rent, mobile phone, and utility payments — useless to most scoring models. Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus in the US, recently released the findings from its State of Alternative Credit Data report and found that 53% of respondents believe some of these alternative data sources — which also include... read more »

Behavioral Science Helps StickK Users Create and Complete Financial and Lifestyle Goals

By: Ray FitzGerald, 5/30/2018

In a Nutshell: Everyone has a personal goal they’d like to meet. Some goals are small in scope and others can have life-changing impacts. Whatever your goal is, there’s a good chance you’ve had moments when you lacked motivation or thought about quitting. The Yale behavioral economists who created stickK spent years studying why these lapses in resilience happen and included all of their research in the goal-setting platform. StickK users create Commitment Contracts for goals as... read more »

Market Force Study Provides Insights into the Evolving Role of Bank Branches

By: Ray FitzGerald, 3/22/2018

In a Nutshell: Over three decades ago, some financial experts predicted the imminent death of brick-and-mortar bank branches, noting the advent of internet banking would overwhelm the industry and create a lot of excess real estate. While that grim outlook hasn't come to fruition, Market Force's US Banking Customer Experiences and Competitive Benchmarks Study found that consumers are visiting their bank branch in smaller, but still significant numbers. In fact, 22% of bank customers... read more »

Juniper Research Reveals Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence Will Deliver Innovation and Significant Cost Savings to the Financial Industry

By: Aaron Lay, 3/2/2018

In a Nutshell: In today’s connected world, where smart speakers are ubiquitous, and we don’t think twice about asking Siri or Alexa to help us find the nearest Italian restaurant, the popularity of artificial intelligence is immediately evident. Industries in virtually every sector are harnessing AI’s power, with the financial industry being an especially willing participant. Though still in its relative infancy, AI is quickly transforming the abilities of present-day financial... read more »

Research Finds Adding Women to a Bank’s Board of Directors Increases Institutional Performance and Outcomes

By: Ray FitzGerald, 2/21/2018

In a Nutshell: Several studies on the effects of gender diversity on boards of directors returned results that were too wide-ranging to be conclusive. But recent research by Ann Owen, Professor of Economics at Hamilton College, and Judit Temesvary a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, attempts to reconcile previous other findings by using alternative research methods. Their research paper found that the impact of increasing gender diversity on a board of... read more »

Can Credit Cards be Recycled? Plastics Expert Keith Vorst Answers a Question that is More Difficult than You May Think

By: Ray FitzGerald, 2/20/2018

In a Nutshell: Most credit cards are made of polyvinyl chloride acetate — more commonly known as PVCA. The acetate in the cards make them difficult to recycle, as it limits the compatibility with the other plastics blended together at recycling plants. Since the material can be difficult — hence, more expensive — to repurpose, only a few companies work to recycle the more than 10 billion credit, debit, gift, and other cards put into circulation each year. Keith Vorst, Director of... read more »

Studies Link High Stress Levels with an Increased Urge to Spend — Here’s How to Fight Those Costly Impulses

By: Ray FitzGerald, 2/14/2018

In a Nutshell: Studies have found a common link between stress and diversion spending — that's where consumers buy things they don't necessarily need to lessen the effects of what’s bothering them. Diversion spending can increase debt, cause feelings of regret later, and increase stress levels even further when the purchase bills are due. To help negate the effects of stress on one’s body and mind, Raizelah Bayen, Spa Services Manager at Osmosis Day Spa in Freestone,... read more »

Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets Studies Washington DC’s Policy and Regulatory Approach to FinTech

By: Ray FitzGerald, 12/21/2017

In a Nutshell: Advances in FinTech have increased industry profits from $3 billion in 2012 to more than $40 billion in 2016. But the industry's rapid growth and development seems to have caught Washington, DC, regulators and policymakers off guard, as new technologies pose challenges to existing regulatory and policy frameworks. Legislative and regulatory developments in the FinTech space have been followed closely since 2014 by the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets... read more »

Esri® Uses Human Geography and the Power of Social Mapping to Help Banks Cut Costs and Increase Customer Bases

By: Ray FitzGerald, 12/18/2017

In a Nutshell: Financial institutions today are charged with being everywhere their customers expect them to be without blowing their budgets by constantly opening new locations. To help connect with their customers, Esri has harnessed its half-century of experience as the market leader in mapping and analytics software. The company empowers more than 350,000 worldwide clients with hyperlocal studies on the markets they serve. Studies show how individual communities interact with... read more »

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