The New York Federal Reserve recently began collecting new data about consumers’ access to credit through its Survey of Consumer Expectations. Since mid-2013, the survey has measured four categories of people: those who applied and were approved for credit, those whose credit application was rejected, those who needed credit but did not apply because they believed they would not be approved, and those who did not apply for credit for other reasons.
Four surveys conducted between October 2013 and October 2014 show that the share of discouraged credit seekers remained steady around 7% and the share of rejected applicants remained steady around 11%. But the share of accepted applicants dropped to 28% recently, after remaining steady at around 33%.
Looking at credit scoring data collected since February 2014, the survey found that the credit rejection rate remained steady around 8% for the most creditworthy group but increased in other groups, most notably in the least creditworthy group from 51% to 55%.
The study looks at various types of credit and breaks down the data by age and credit score. For more information and access to the full survey data, read the New York Fed’s blog, Liberty Street Economics.
