ACCI Conference 2024

Americans rate financial stress as one of their top stressors. Financial stress such as difficulty and inability to meet financial obligations and worry about financial matters, manifests in physical and mental health experiences such as difficulty sleeping, irritability or anger, and fatigue. Consumers with delinquent and seriously delinquent accounts may experience debt collection activity as creditors attempt to collect on an unpaid debt after due dates have passed. Stress induced by this debt collection has significant impact on the health of the consumers. However, little is known about the potential association of debt collection experience to physical health and the role of financial access. Financial access, the ability to own and use financial products and services from mainstream financial institutions, may serve as a buffer on the association. Using the 2022 Financial Health Pulse, this study explored the association among debt collection experience, financial access, and health. This study identified three latent classes of financial access (Investor, Working Class and Thinly Banked) and also found a negative association between debt collection experience and physical health. The negative association is strongest for those with the lowest financial access. Results suggest the potential for the integration of financial assessment into healthcare delivery.

Author(s): Euijin Jung