Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products

Choosing a mortgage is one of the most important financial decisions made by a household. Financial innovation has given rise to more complex mortgage products with back-loaded payments, known as ‘Alternative Mortgage Products’ (AMPs), or ‘Interest-Only Mortgages’. Using a specially designed questio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gathergood, John, Weber, Jörg
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40288/
_version_ 1848796025696813056
author Gathergood, John
Weber, Jörg
author_facet Gathergood, John
Weber, Jörg
author_sort Gathergood, John
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Choosing a mortgage is one of the most important financial decisions made by a household. Financial innovation has given rise to more complex mortgage products with back-loaded payments, known as ‘Alternative Mortgage Products’ (AMPs), or ‘Interest-Only Mortgages’. Using a specially designed question module in a representative survey of UK mortgage holders, we investigate the effect of consumer financial sophistication on the decision to choose an AMP instead of a standard repayment mortgage. We show poor financial literacy and present bias raise the likelihood of choosing an AMP. Financially literate individuals are also more likely to choose an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), suggesting they avoid paying the term premium of a fixed rate mortgage.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:41:25Z
format Article
id nottingham-40288
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:41:25Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-402882020-05-04T18:36:00Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40288/ Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products Gathergood, John Weber, Jörg Choosing a mortgage is one of the most important financial decisions made by a household. Financial innovation has given rise to more complex mortgage products with back-loaded payments, known as ‘Alternative Mortgage Products’ (AMPs), or ‘Interest-Only Mortgages’. Using a specially designed question module in a representative survey of UK mortgage holders, we investigate the effect of consumer financial sophistication on the decision to choose an AMP instead of a standard repayment mortgage. We show poor financial literacy and present bias raise the likelihood of choosing an AMP. Financially literate individuals are also more likely to choose an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), suggesting they avoid paying the term premium of a fixed rate mortgage. Elsevier 2017-02-04 Article PeerReviewed Gathergood, John and Weber, Jörg (2017) Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products. Journal of Banking and Finance, 78 . pp. 58-83. ISSN 1872-6372 mortgages financial literacy present bias alternative mortgage products http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426617300316 doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.01.022 doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2017.01.022
spellingShingle mortgages
financial literacy
present bias
alternative mortgage products
Gathergood, John
Weber, Jörg
Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
title Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
title_full Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
title_fullStr Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
title_full_unstemmed Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
title_short Financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
title_sort financial literacy, present bias and alternative mortgage products
topic mortgages
financial literacy
present bias
alternative mortgage products
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40288/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40288/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40288/