← Search

Journal of Finance Vol. 72 No. 5 2017

Consumer Default, Credit Reporting, and Borrowing Constraints

Mark J. Garmaise; Gabriel Natividad1

1 Union Bank of Switzerland

Abstract

Why do negative credit events lead to long‐term borrowing constraints? Exploiting banking regulations in Peru and utilizing currency movements, we show that consumers who face a credit rating downgrade due to bad luck experience a three‐year reduction in financing. Consumers respond to the shock by paying down their most troubled loans, but nonetheless end up more likely to exit the credit market. For a set of borrowers who experience severe delinquency, we find that the associated credit reporting downgrade itself accounts for 25% to 65% of their observed decline in borrowing at various horizons over the following several years.

DOI
10.1111/jofi.12522
Volume
72
Issue
5
Pages
2331-2368
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite