Financial Services Review

Consumers’ Basic Bank Account Complaints and Their Financial Hardships: A Content Analysis of Complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Julie Birkenmaier — 2025-06-09

Although savings and/or checking account ownership is widespread, significant account problems occur that carry negative implications for consumer finances. This study aims to profile American consumers’ bank account experiences when they encounter challenges with the use of their basic bank account that are not resolved through initial contact with their financial institution. A systematic sample of consumer saving and checking account complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2022-2023 is used to conduct content analysis to identify prevalent themes. The resulting content analysis categories are used in a predictive model to determine the drivers of financial hardship. Results suggest that experiencing fraud issues and Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) malfunctions led to increased odds of experiencing financial issues. Also problematic were challenges relating to funds withheld by the financial institution, account transaction issues, and problems with account features. Customer service issues that led to increased odds of financial hardship were staff’s inability to solve their customer issues, weak engagement with their customers, and lack of or wrong information provided to their customers. Financial institutions can use these results to focus on the most critical issues that negatively impact customer finances. Policy changes to financial institutions, both internal and external, can focus on decreasing the rate and implications of fraud and ATM challenges on consumer finances. Internally, improving customer service in several key areas through rigorous training to standards and monitoring as well as enhanced grievance procedures, may also be impactful.

Exploring the Effect of Federal Student Loan Payment Resumption on Borrowers Through Sentiment and Textual Analysis Using X

Jason Anderson — 2025-06-09

Student loans have taken on an increasingly significant role in funding the higher education experience and payments toward student loan debt have become an important part of many borrowers’ overall financial plan. Using Brandwatch, this study analyzes X data to better understand student loan borrower sentiment during the resumption of federal student loan payments in October 2023. During the period studied, negative references to student loans on the platform overtook positive sentiment overwhelmingly (46% negative versus 1% positive). Topics and phrases labeled negative sentiment ranked higher in mentions than those with positive or neutral sentiment in their respective categories. The findings highlight the need for financial planners to provide appropriate mental health resources to help borrowers manage negative feelings surrounding the federal student loan payment restart.

Consumer Margin Use: Understanding the Role of Peer Influence, Investment Literacy, and Age

Kaplan Sanders — 2025-06-09

Very little has been observed regarding household decisions around margin use. Using the 2021 wave of the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), this study investigates margin use as both a debt and an investment decision. Using probit analysis and observing correlations, relationships between peer influence, investment literacy, age, and margin use are explored. Results indicate a positive peer influence on the decision to buy on margin. Also, younger individuals and individuals with higher degrees of investment literacy have a higher probability of buying on margin. Finally, feelings of over indebtedness are positively related to margin use. These findings have implications for policy makers as well as those who provide financial advice.

Student Willingness to Borrow for Higher Education

Stuart Heckman — 2025-06-09

A human capital model is used to examine students’ willingness to borrow to pay for a college degree. We hypothesize direct costs of education and education goals to be positively associated and current income and alternative financial support to be negatively associated with willingness to borrow. Using college student data from the 2020 Study on Collegiate Financial Wellness, we found that 13% of college students are not willing to borrow to pay for school, 31% are willing to borrow up to $20,000, and 27% are willing to borrow up to $50,000. Overall, we find evidence that students’ willingness to borrow corresponds to the rational decisions predicted from human capital theory. Higher tuition costs, educational goals, and fields of study with higher expected pay were all positively associated with willingness to borrow. Income is positively correlated with willingness to borrow at the lower end of income, but as income increases, the amount students are willing to borrow is less. Alternative financial support from either scholarships, grants, or family is negatively associated with willingness to borrow, which is all consistent with the two-period human capital model.

Immigration Law Enforcement and Immigrant Homeownership

Efthymia Antonoudi — 2025-06-09

We use the American Community Survey microdata and employ difference-in-differences (DID) models to examine how local immigration law enforcement, through 287(g) agreements and the Secure Communities program, impacts homeownership among different demographic groups. The findings indicate that 287(g) agreements significantly reduce the likelihood of homeownership, particularly among Hispanics without a college education and U.S. citizenship, with effects most pronounced in states lacking E-Verify mandates. The Secure Communities program exhibits more nuanced effects, initially showing positive impacts for specific Hispanic populations; however, these results are not robust to pre-trend analyses. Additional factors such as length of U.S. residence, English proficiency, age, and household income strongly influence immigrant homeownership outcomes, underscoring the complex interplay between policy enforcement and socio-economic assimilation. The results highlight unintended economic consequences of immigration enforcement policies, suggesting important considerations for housing stability, financial security, and integration policies aimed at immigrant and broader community well-being.

The Association of Cryptocurrency and the Use of Alternative Financial Services

Gary Curnutt — 2025-06-09

Alternative financial services (AFS) have been studied in recent years in terms of how these financial
markets are utilized. The products and services include check cashing, pawnshop loans, payday advance
loans, electronic cash transmissions, tax refund anticipation arrangements, rent-to-own contracts, prepaid
debit cards, gift cards, and loans collateralized by automobile titles. Cryptocurrency has become part of
this AFS ecology. The 2023 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking collected information
on AFS use, including the use of cryptocurrency as an AFS. This research answered the questions: a) Do
users of cryptocurrencies for AFS also tend to use them for investments; b) do users of cryptocurrencies to
make payments tend to use them for other AFS purposes, and c) do users of cryptocurrencies to send
money to friends and family tend to use them for other AFS purposes?

Examining the Gender Gap in Participation in Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans: Oaxaca Decomposition

Ferdous Ahmmed — 2025-06-09

Using the 2021 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), this study examines the association between gender-based participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans and financial literacy. It also decomposes the association between gender-based participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans into its explained and unexplained portions using the Oaxaca decomposition. The explained portion measures how much of the gender gap in employer-sponsored, retirement-plan participation is due to the differences in the level of financial literacy. The unexplained portion measures how much of the gender gap in employer-sponsored, retirement-plan participation is due to the difference in the return to financial literacy between men and women. The results show that the explained portion of the gap due to financial literacy is -0.02, and the unexplained portion of the gap due to return to financial literacy is -0.03. The negative explained and unexplained gap due to financial literacy suggests that women have a lower average value of financial literacy and a lower return to financial literacy than men.

A Structured Literature Review on Equity in the Financial Services Profession: Unpacking Gender Barriers and Advancing Women’s Participation Globally

Tanya Staples — 2025-06-09

Women’s involvement and influence in the financial landscape have risen markedly, with a growing share of global wealth now under their control. If current projections prove accurate, women are expected to manage about 55% of the world’s wealth by 2030, fundamentally transforming the financial services and advisory industries. Alongside this shift, a more holistic, solution-focused, advice-oriented approach is emerging—departing from the historically product-centric, male-dominated financial sales industry of the past. Despite this progress, gender equity within financial services remains elusive. Women currently comprise only about 17% of financial advising professionals in Canada and the United States. Research consistently underscores the importance of gender diversity, noting that many female clients prefer advisors who understand their distinct needs. Yet systemic, cultural, and societal barriers continue to limit women’s full participation in the profession. This structured literature review examines these barriers, particularly within the realms of financial advising and planning. It also explores the implications for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, offering strategies for employers and the broader profession to enhance organizational structures. Emphasis is placed on transparency and the development of policies and procedures that actively integrate a gendered perspective.

Psychophysiological Finance and Intelligent Wellness

Robert Hanlon — 2025-06-09

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. requires CFP® professionals to identify and respond to a client's attitudes, behaviors, and situations that impact decision-making, the client-planner relationship, and a client’s financial well-being. This practice requirement acknowledges the importance of identifying and analyzing psychological reactions, physiological responses, and financial triggers, which interact to influence client intentions, actions, and outcomes. The paper provides an overview of the way financial stressors and acute and chronic stress can impact the well-being of clients. Building on this background, the paper describes a vision for a new advice-delivery model based on the emerging fields of psychophysiological finance and intelligent wellness. The practice model described in this paper shows how advances in mobile health, psychophysiology, and psychology can be blended with a traditional financial planning practice approach to provide clients with comprehensive advice and guidance, attempting to reduce the effects of stress and improve client well-being.

Financial Services Review Masthead

John Grable — 2025-06-09

From the Editor

John Grable — 2025-06-09