(London): The FCA is conducting research on consumer repayment behaviour to alleviate persistent debt in anticipation of a new package of remedies. The additional research follows the Credit Card Market Study Final Findings released in July.
Everything from behavioural cues to statement presentation could potentially influence payment behaviour, an FCA representative said during a Q&A session at Auriemma’s Card Finance Roundtable in October. While at the meeting of card issuers, the regulator detailed some of the hypotheses it is testing, including how different consumer segments react to behavioural nudges around suggested repayment amounts, the impact of minimum payment “anchoring,” and how the presentation of amortisation can stimulate repayment habits.
Six months of data will be used in the analysis to assess the study’s impact on consumer behaviour and monitor for unintended consequences.
The FCA also detailed an additional study in collaboration with The UK Cards Association, focussed on further conceptualising early intervention and establishing a set of escalation tools firms will follow to encourage consumers out of persistent debt.
“The FCA has acknowledged that behavioural nudges may not work for all customers, as some may be in financial difficulty,” said Matt Bethell, Senior Associate of Auriemma’s UK Industry Roundtables. “The output of these additional studies will be remedies that incentivise firms to escalate intervention around persistent debt, without damaging customer service.”
The follow-up studies directly respond to some of the FCA’s more significant conclusions from the July study, including the identification of two consumer groups requiring attention: those carrying debt for longer than three years (most likely due to habitual minimum payments) and those moving rapidly from acquisition to problem debt within one year. To identify these groups, the FCA requested significant data sets from issuers and ran analysis across the product lifecycle. The FCA compared the returns of credit card products for both low- and high-risk consumer segments and found that, between 2010 and 2014, returns were typically six percentage points greater on high-risk segment products. One quarter of accounts taken out in 2013 by consumers within the high-risk segment were in severe or serious arrears by 2014.
“While the FCA concluded that the market is working well for the majority of consumers, and that product cross-subsidisation was not materially impacting competition, it also believes firms have fewer incentives to address consumers with persistent levels of debt and should be intervening earlier,” Bethell said.
While the full implications of the results of these studies are not yet known, issuers are anticipating changes to their portfolio economics and, potentially, value propositions. These developments will be key agenda items at the Card Finance Roundtable in the year ahead.
About Auriemma Group
Auriemma is a boutique management consulting firm with specialised focus on the Payments and Lending space. We deliver actionable solutions and insights that add value to our clients’ business activities across a broad set of industry topics and disciplines. For more information, please contact Matt Bethell at +44 (0) 207 629 0075.