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Contrasting Associations between Formal and Fringe Credit Use and Health

Mon, August 24, 8:30 to 9:30am, TBA

Abstract

An emergent literature has shown associations between debt and health outcomes. However, this research has failed to consider how not holding debt, due to lack of access to the traditional credit market, and possible reliance on the fringe (alternative) financial sector, might influence well-being. We use a population-based sample of adults in southeast Michigan to explore the links between health and use of formal debt and alternative lending. We find that use of alternative credit services is associated with worse self-rated health, depression, and more chronic conditions. Over time, people who switch from formal credit to no credit use have higher depression scores than those who do continue using formal credit only. In addition, those who transition from using formal credit to a mixture of formal and alternative credit have more chronic conditions than those who continue using formal credit alone. Our results illustrate that the use of fringe and formal credit simultaneously is associated with lower self-rated health and a higher depression score in comparison to either using formal credit only or fringe credit only.

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