Understanding Required Financial Assistance in Medical Care
Charity care is one of the main forms of assistance hospitals offer to low-income consumers to help cover the cost of medical treatment.
Research on consumer financial markets
Our PhD social scientists design and conduct foundational, policy-relevant research on consumer finance and household behavior.
For preliminary research and working papers, find the Office of Research’s independent papers on SSRN.
Featured data
We collect data to monitor consumer credit market conditions.
Consumer Credit Trends Report: Paid and Low-Balance Medical Collections on Consumer Credit Reports
This is part of a series of reports of consumer credit trends produced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau using a longitudinal sample of approximately five million de-identified credit records from one of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies.
Quarterly Consumer Credit Trends: Recent trends in debt settlement and credit counseling
Quarterly consumer credit trends reports focus on a specific consumer financial product or issue using a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of de-identified credit records maintained by a nationwide consumer reporting agency.
Disclosure of Time-Barred Debt and Revival: Findings from the CFPB’s Quantitative Disclosure Testing
Between May and September 2019, the CFPB conducted a large-scale online survey experiment designed to test several versions of disclosures to support understanding of time-barred debt and revival. The results of the survey experiment are summarized in this report.
Quantitative Survey Testing of Model Disclosure Clauses and Forms for Debt Collection: Methodology Report
In September 2019, the CFPB engaged ICF International, Inc., to launch a large-scale online survey experiment designed to test several versions of disclosures to support understanding of time-barred debt and revival.
Quarterly consumer credit trends: Telecommunications debt collection
Consumers typically pay for telecommunications services monthly, but most providers do not report to consumer reporting agencies unless an account is in collections. In this report, we explore how these debts are reported.
Consumer Experiences With Debt Collection: Findings From the CFPB’s Survey on Consumer Views on Debt
This report presents the results of the Survey of Consumer Views on Debt, which was conducted by the CFPB between December 2014 and March 2015 to better...
Study of third-party debt collection operations
This study describes results of a survey of debt collection firms and vendors to the debt collection industry that the Bureau conducted to better understand...
Data point: Medical debt and credit scores
Our data point reports are prepared by our Office of Research to provide an evidence-based perspective on consumer financial markets, consumer behavior, and...