CFPB report examines early impact of pandemic on consumer credit

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report Monday examining the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer credit. The report found that consumers have not experienced significant increases in delinquency or other negative credit outcomes as reported in credit record data following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

This is in spite of the sharp increases in unemployment resulting from the pandemic.

The report focused on mortgage, student and auto loans and credit card accounts from March 2020 to June 2020, and notes that outcomes may reflect payment assistance provided to American consumers through the CARES Act.

Using the Bureau’s Consumer Credit Panel (CCP), a nationally representative sample of approximately five million de-identified credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies, the report shows that new delinquencies fell between March and June of 2020.

 

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