Black and White in the Consumer Financial System

Abstract

Compared with white families with similar incomes, black families use fewer savings and insurance sevices, but more kinds of credit, have a smaller total amount of financial resources, and tend to use the less-advantageous types of financial resources. Partially responsible for this is their relative lack of knowledgeability about how to rationalize their participation in the consumer fianancial system. The end result of the inequities of participation documented by this study is to widen the gap of well-being between black and white households.