Protecting Minority Homeowners: Race,Foreclosure Counseling and Mortgage Modifications

Millions of minority homeowners are at risk of losing their homes as a result of the housing crisis due to mortgage foreclosure and home repossession. One consumer‐oriented policy response to this crisis is mortgage default counseling for borrowers. This study examines the rate at which minority borrowers seek default counseling and the resulting correlation between counseling and the probability that a borrower obtains a modification of his/her original mortgage contract terms. The results suggest that African Americans are more likely to be counseled, relative to Whites. However, Latinos or other non‐White groups are no more or less likely to be counseled. The probability of loan modifications among counseled African Americans is also higher than other counseled borrowers. These results suggest that counseling policies and the public subsidy of default counseling may be one approach for promoting consumer financial well‐being of these households, but also suggest counseling efforts might be better designed for other minority groups. These results also have implications for the application of counseling to other mortgage decisions, such as refinance .     

Banking relationship and default priority in consumer credit: Evidence from Thai microdata

Banks play an important role in consumer credit, and when borrowers face a decision on whether to default on mortgage or non-mortgage loans first, banking relationship may matter. Our study provides first evidence into the interplay between banking relationship and consumer default priority via credit bureau data of 1 million individuals in Thailand. We find that same-bank borrowers are less likely to default on mortgage loans first, and borrowers with longer banking relationship and lower switching cost are more likely to default on mortgage loans first (which is welfare-improving). Our results suggest that banking relationship can lead to better outcomes for defaulting borrowers even when switching cost is high.     

Determinants of indebtedness among young adults: Impacts of lender guidelines,explicit information and financial (over)confidence

For most people, borrowing money is a necessary aspect of life in the 21st century. Wisely handled, loans give consumers access to consumption too expensive for most individuals to purchase with cash, such as homes and cars. However, history shows that taking on too much debt can be detrimental for the individual consumer as well as society as a whole. In this paper, we investigate determinants of over‐indebtedness among young adults. We perform three studies in a setting focused on buying and borrowing money for a home. We show that, compared with an overall mortgage amount, explicit information about monthly payments reduces the tendency to take on too much debt (Study 1), that the amount borrowed depends on standards regarding the loan amount communicated through guidelines from the lender (Study 2), and that borrowers who are overconfident about their financial abilities tend to borrow more than less confident individuals (Study 3). These determinants and their policy implications are discussed.     

个人住房抵押贷款的借款人风险分析

个人住房抵押贷款已逐渐成为个人买房的必由选择。对银行和借款人而言,住房消费贷款的长期风险都较高。本文对个人住房贷款中,借款人的潜在风险进行了深入分析,并联系当前实际提出相应的控制、防范风险的措施。     

美国次按贷危机剖析

随着美国住房价格逐渐回落,利率不断上升,次贷的借款人越来越难以按期偿付贷款,导致次贷及相关的证券投资产品损失严重,一些贷款机构、投资银行、对冲基金纷纷出现巨额亏损,甚至倒闭,由房价引发次按贷危机的爆发。次按贷危机暴露出评级机构对结构性金融产品信用评估体制上的缺陷和中间人的道德风险严重。次按贷危机对全球各种金融产品价格产生很大的冲击．并从各个方面都对全球经济产生了深远的影响。     

Credit access for high-risk borrowers in financially concentrated markets: Do SBA loan guarantees help?

The Small Business Administration's (SBA) loan guarantee program was established to correct financial capital market inefficiencies and improve small business access to financial capital. However, the SBA loan guarantee program has been criticized for its failure to improve the performance of financial capital markets available to small businesses. This study considers the financial capital market failure created by lenders' monopoly power (specifically, financial market concentration) in financial capital markets. Based on this potential market failure, a model is derived to evaluate the behavior of lenders and borrowers in financial capital markets. Using the national Survey of Small Business Finance, this study compares the financial characteristics of small business borrowers with and without SBA loan guarantees, and provides a qualitative assessment of the SBA's ability to correct financial capital market inefficiencies. When considering only the interaction between borrower quality and the degree of financial market concentration, high-risk borrowers in high concentration financial markets have a higher probability of receiving an SBA loan guarantee than low-risk borrowers in low concentration financial markets. However, when other factors influencing the demand for financial capital are included in the model, only the borrower attributes (credit risk and age) are significant. While the SBA loan guarantee program appears to partially mitigate the effects of the market failure caused by financial market concentration for high-risk borrowers, the program appears to be better designed to address borrower risk, rather than credit market failure.     

美国次级抵押贷款市场的发展和危机

美国的住房抵押贷款市场经历了三个发展阶段,目前已进入证券化发展阶段。美国金融制度的改变和房地产市场的发展促使了次级抵押贷款市场的发展。次级抵押贷款市场的积极作用是使低收入者买得起房子。2006年9月,美国次级抵押贷款市场危机爆发,危机的特征是借款者被取消抵押品赎回权和抵押贷款坏帐高涨,金融机构濒临破产。导致次级抵押贷款市场危机爆发的原因是美国房价泡沫的破灭和利率上升。掠夺性放贷和监管缺位是美国次级抵押贷款市场存在的主要问题。     

Financial Turmoil Still Ahead？

Asub-prime mortgage refers to a type of loai3 that is normally made to borrowers who do not qualify for market interest rates,often due to a variety of risk factors,such as their income level,size of the down payment,credit history,or employment status. As a result of the borrower＇s low credit rating, a conventional mortgage cannot be offered because the lender views the borrower as having a greater-than-average risk of defaulting on the loan. Lending institutions often charge interest on sub-prime mortgages at a rate that is higher than a conventional mortgage in order to compensate for this added risk. Recently,     

Financial literacy and the cost of borrowing

This research investigates the relation between financial literacy and the cost of borrowing via credit cards and mortgage loans among US consumers. This is a departure from previous studies that have focused on levels of debt in relation to human capital, either financial knowledge or education. Data from the Consumer Finance Monthly (CFM) survey are used to specifically examine the effect of financial literacy on borrowing rates for credit cards and mortgages controlling for other human capital influences. The CFM is a national survey, rich in American consumer credit information, and includes a comprehensive instrument specifically designed to measure financial literacy. Results indicate that those who are financially literate are about twice as likely to have lower costs of borrowing for both credit cards and mortgage loans.     

Product differentiation and consumption efficiency in mortgage markets

This study evaluates the outcome of non-price competition in the UK mortgage market. Developing a novel application of data envelopment analysis, DEA, within the banking literature, this study finds evidence of high consumption efficiency. Employing cluster analysis, the study provides additional evidence that efficient mortgages are available for borrowers across a broad range of market segments. The study also shows that these beneficial aspects of non-price competition are only available to borrowers who select mortgages based on rational measures of price. The discussion closes with guidance for policymakers.     

中国金融创新:美国次贷危机背景下的选择

通过对美国次贷危机与金融创新关系的再反思,分析金融创新在美国次贷危机中所扮演的角色,重申金融创新的积极作用,提出金融创新在我国金融体系发展中的重要策略和原则:金融创新必须在合理的范围内进行,遵循"风险可控、成本可算"的原则,进一步完善金融监管体制,并要处理好金融创新与金融监管的关系。     

The global financial crisis: Some suggestions for reform of the global financial architecture in the light of Islamic finance

The article argues that the primary cause of the current subprime mortgage crisis in the United States is the absence of adequate market discipline in the financial system. This tends to promote excessive lending, high leverage, speculation, and an unsustainable rise in asset prices. Unwinding later on gives rise to a vicious cycle of selling that feeds on itself and leads to a steep decline in asset prices followed by financial crisis and economic slowdown. The solution lies in introducing risk sharing along with the availability of credit for primarily the purchase of real goods and services that Islamic finance aims at introducing. This can help inject greater discipline into the system and, thereby, substantially reduce financial instability. Since the introduction of greater discipline into the financial system may deprive the subprime borrowers of credit, the article also discusses the need for finding ways of satisfying their genuine credit needs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Impact investments,evil investments,and something in between: Comparing social banks' investment criteria and strategies with depositors' investment preferences

Since the global financial crisis in 2007, social banks have been flooded with deposits. Previous studies have indicated that customers hold deposits with social banks due to social banks' special placement of assets. However, to date it has been far from clear how social banks select their investments, and consequently to what extent the placement of assets meets depositors' preferences. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to investigate whether the characteristics of social banks’ placement of assets are relevant to depositors’ choice of social banks. A two-stage study is conducted, using data collected via a document analysis of social banks' investment criteria, a survey of social banks, and an online survey of 609 depositors. The results imply that the characteristics of social banks' placement of assets are indeed relevant to depositors' choice of social banks, but do not explain customer behaviour entirely. Furthermore, the findings indicate that a relevant proportion of customers hold deposits with social banks to avoid “evil” rather than necessarily creating “good.” Based on the findings, a theoretical framework of depositors' choice of social banks is presented that goes far beyond previous explanations by considering various types of social depositors, banks, and borrowers.     

Microfinance Performance and Social Capital: A Cross-Country Analysis

In recent years, the microfinance industry has received a substantial amount of cross-border funding from both public and private sources. This funding reflects the increasing interest in microfinance as part of a more general trend towards socially responsible investments. In order to be able to secure sustained interest from these investors, it is important that the microfinance industry can show evidence of its contribution to reducing poverty at the bottom of the pyramid. For this, it is crucial to understand under what conditions microfinance institutions (MFIs) are able to reduce poverty. This paper contributes to this discussion by investigating the relationship between the extent to which social capital formation is facilitated within different societies and the financial and social performance of MFIs. This focus on social capital formation is important, because in many cases MFIs use group loans with joint liability to incentivize asset-poor borrowers to substitute the lack of physical collateral by their social capital. Hence, the success of a large part of the loan relationship between MFIs and their borrowers depends on the social capital those borrowers can bring into the contract. We carry out a cross-country analysis on a dataset containing 100 countries and identify different social dimensions as proxies for how easy social capital can be developed in different countries. We hypothesize that microfinance is more successful, both in terms of their financial and social aims, in societies that are more conducive to the development of social capital. Our empirical results support our hypothesis.     

Consumer Default of Delinquent Adjustable-Rate Mortgage Loans

An examination of the default behavior of delinquent Canadian rollover mortgage borrowers suggests that borrower ability-to-pay considerations are relevant to the default decision. They are, however, secondary to housing equity considerations. Results from both ratio and linear-additive specifications suggest that a ratio specification conceals the independent effect of income and wealth variables.     

Incentives for Loan Repayments: Evidence from a Randomized Field Study

This field experiment tests an innovative approach for helping automobile loan borrowers make their loan payments on time. Borrowers were randomly assigned to a loan with an interest rate reduction after three on‐time payments; borrowers assigned to this loan show fewer late payments compared to a control group. While the financial incentive of the interest rate reduction was small, the offer of a rate reduction appears to result in borrowers attending to due dates. This result illustrates that lenders can use simple mechanisms to encourage more positive repayment patterns among borrowers with a history of late payments.     

National Culture and Default on Mortgages

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between national cultural characteristics and default on mortgages (DOM). Using Hofstede's constructs and controlling for other relevant determinants of DOM, our regression analyses show that borrowers from countries with high individualism may default more on their mortgages in both a relatively stable economic period and during a period of crisis. Moreover, we find that borrowers from societies showing lower level of pragmatism and higher level of indulgence default more on their mortgages in a stable economic period. Our findings suggest important implications for multinational financial institutions that provide mortgages across countries.     

Disentangling the Differences between Abusive and Predatory Lending: Professionals’ Perspectives

This study describes how mortgage professionals differentiate abusive from predatory lending. Data were analyzed qualitatively. The results indicate that some users of this term do not always adhere to a strict definition of predatory lending but rather use it as a term for any general mortgage abuse and mortgage fraud. Existing laws at the federal‐ and state‐level curtail abusive lending and promote fairness in the market place and they are highly enforced among depository financial institutions. However, unregulated nonfinancial institutions, mortgage brokers, and originators are still a primary source of predatory lending.     

The Higher Cost of Follow-Up Loans

This paper uses unique data and looks at the interest margin for follow-up finance vis-à-vis first round-finance. Applying data for asset values, we examine the substitution between collateral and interest margins. Consistent with the theories of Bester (1985), Besanko and Thakor (1987) and the empirical evidence of Cressy (1996b), we find that a trade-off between collateral and interest margins exists. Our main result indicates that follow-up finance is more expensive for loans but not for overdrafts. We suggest that a relatively fixed asset base (Land and Buildings), as seen in higher security to loan values, raises the price and risk of successive financial increments. This explains the higher relative cost of follow-up finance to borrowers.     

次贷危机对我国金融创新监管的启示

通过对次贷危机传导机制的分析我们可以看到,对金融创新监管的滞后、不到位是导致危机迅速扩大蔓延的重要原因,这暴露出美国金融监管体制在金融创新监管方面存在的缺陷,而我国在金融创新监管方面与美国存在一些共性的问题,我们要正确处理金融创新与金融监管关系,完善监管体系结构,较变"机构监管"为"功能监管",创新监管方式。