BISWorkingPapersNo1258

Howaccuratelydoconsumersreporttheirdebtsinhouseholdsurveys?

byCarlosMadeira

MonetaryandEconomicDepartment

April2025

JELclassification:C81,D10,D12,E21,G21

Keywords:householdfinancesurveys,mortgages,consumercredit,default,measurementerror

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ISSN1020-0959(print)

ISSN1682-7678(online)

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Howaccuratelydoconsumersreporttheirdebtsinhouseholdsurveys?

CarlosMadeira*

March2025

Abstract

ThisarticleadvancesuponpreviousstudiesbyusingauniquematchofarepresentativesampleofindividualborrowersfromtheChileanHouseholdFinanceSurveyandtheirbankingloanrecords.Ishowthatsurveysdi§erfromthecreditregistry,notjustinthenumberofloansreported,butalsointheiramount,withasubstantialdegreeofheterogeneity.Delinquencystatusisaccuratelyreportedbysurveyrespondents.Furthermore,asubstantialfractionofthediscrepanciescanbeexplainedbyroundingerrorinsurveyanswers.Finally,I?ndthatdiscrepanciesarelargerwhenrespondentsarenotthehighest-incomememberofthefamily.

JELClassi?cation:C81;D10;D12;E21;G21.

Keywords:HouseholdFinanceSurveys;mortgages;consumercredit;default;measurementerror.

*BankforInternationalSettlementsandCentralBankofChile,carlos.madeira@.IwouldliketothankJonFrost,BasitZafar,SumitAgarwal,JorgePonceandseminarparticipantsattheCentralBankofChileandtheChileanFinancialMarketCommission(CMF).TheviewsexpressedinthearticlearethoseoftheauthoranddonotnecessarilyreáecttheviewsoftheBISortheCentralBankofChileoritsboardmembers.Allerrorsaremyown.

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1Introduction

Household?nancesurveys,suchastheHouseholdFinanceConsumptionSurveyinEuropeortheSurveyofConsumerFinanceintheUS,areincreasinglyusedtostudyfamiliesídecisionsonsavings,investmentsandborrowing(DynanandKohn2007,Christelis,GeorgarakosandHaliassos2013,Christelis,EhrmannandGeorgarakos2017,LeBlancetal.2015,Boveretal.2016).Surveyinformationon?nancesisimportant(Zinman2009),especiallybecausemanyhouseholdsandsmallenterprisesrelyonadiversityoffundingsourcesandcreditinstruments,whichmaycomefrombankandnon-banklenders.Surveysalsomeasurebothformalandinformalincomesources,anadvantageincountrieswhereinformalemploymentcanrepresentmorethan25%ofthelaborforce.However,surveysacrossseveraltopicssu§erfrommeasurementerror,mainlyduetointentionalmis-reporting(forinstance,duetosocialdesirability),lackofmemory,cognitiveerrorandroundingbytherespondents(Boundetal.2001,Giustinellietal.2022,Stantcheva2023).Measurementerrorcreatesdownwardbiasincoe￠cientestimates(Boundetal.2001)andoftencomplicatesempiricalanalysissuchasrequiringvalidationsamples(Boundetal.2001),repeatedmeasurementorinstrumentalvariables(Schennach2016).Thismakesitimportanttostudytheaccuracyofsurveyresponses,especiallyinsurveyswithcomplexanddi￠cultquestionssuchas?nancialsurveys.

Comparativestudiesoftheaggregateamountsofhouseholdliabilitiesinsurveydatasetsandnationalaccounts?ndasigni?cantdegreeofunder-reportingofloansinhouseholdsurveys(Brownetal.,2015),especiallyinthecaseofshort-termdebtsuchasconsumerloansandcreditcards(KarlanandZinman2008,Zinman2009).Asapercentageofthetotalliabilitiesinnationalaccounts,areviewofhousehold?nancesurveysinEuropeandtheUSbetween1998and2002foundthatsurveysunderestimatedaggregateliabilitiesby40%inGermany,56%inItaly,72.5%inPortugal,16%inFinlandand11%intheUS(Sierminskaetal.2006,KavoniusandT?rm‰lehto2010).Forthisreason,di§erentsurveymethodologiesandinterviewmethodshaveattemptedtoimprovesurveymeasurementofeconomicand?nancialvariables(LeBlancetal.2015).

Thisworkshowsmicrodataevidenceonhowhouseholdsíself-reporteddebtinformationdi§ersfromtheiradministrativebankloanrecords.ThestudytakesadvantageofauniquematcheddatasetbetweentheChileanHouseholdFinanceSurvey(EncuestaFinancieradeHogares,inSpanish,fromhenceon,EFH)andtheBankingLoanadministrativerecords(fromtheChileanBankingAuthority,

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inSpanish,SuperintendenciadeBancoseInstitucionesFinancieras,henceonSBIF).1Thematchedsurvey-bankingregistrydatasetimprovesmuchontheresultsofpreviousstudiesforothercountries.Ishowatthemicro-levelhowthesurveyísself-reportedloaninformationdi§ersfromthetruebankingdebtrecordsacrossrespondents.Thisallowstotestwhetherthedi§erencesbetweensurveyinformationandloanrecordsareduetothenumberofnon-reportedloansordi§erencesintheloanamounts.Ialsoanalyzehowthequalityofsurveyinformationdi§ersforhouseholdsaccordingtoeducation,incomelevelsordemographiccomplexity(suchasthecoexistenceofseveral?nancialdecisionmakersinthesamehousehold).Therefore,thisisastrongimprovementuponpreviousstudiesthatwerelimitedtoacomparisonbetweenaggregatedebtamountsinsurveydataandadministrativerecords(Zinman2009,Brownetal.2015,Bhandarietal.2020).

Thematchedsurvey-bankingregistrydatasetprovidesdataonallbankingloancontracts(includingmortgages,consumerinstallmentloans,creditcardsandcreditlines)fortheperiod2003until2018andtheirself-reportedcross-sectionalinformationonhouseholdísdemographiccharacteristics,incomeandloans(witheitherbanksandnon-bankinginstitutions)foronesurveyyear(withhouseholdinterviewsin2011,2014and2017).Thematcheddataincludestheloanhistoryinthebankingsystemfortheinterviewedpersonsplussurvey-reportedmeasuresofincome,ageandeducationforboththeinterviewedpersonandhouseholdmembers.

Thisanalysisshowsthattherearesubstantialdiscrepanciesbetweenindividualborrowersísurveyreportsandtheadministrativerecords.Intermsofloanparticipation,thereisasigni?cantpercentageofloansthatarereportedinthesurveyandnotintheregistryorvice-versa.However,borrowersreportthedelinquencystatusoftheirloansquiteaccurately.Theyalsoreportthematurityoftheirmortgageandconsumerinstallmentloansquiteaccurately.Intermsofloanamounts,therearereasonablediscrepancies,withthepercentiles25to75goingfromarangeof

-31%to18%andbetween-0.7%to59.3%formortgageandinstallmentloanamounts,respectively.Forcreditcardsandcreditlines,thediscrepanciesarehigher(aresultalsofoundfortheUS;seeZinman2009).Thislargerdiscrepancyforcreditcardsandlinesofcreditwastobeexpected,becausethesurveyinterviewonlyasksborrowerstoreportdebtsthatwilllastmorethanonemonth.Therefore,thesurveydoesnotincludeveryshort-termrevolvingdebt.

1NotethattheChileanBankingAuthoritywasmergedwiththeInsuranceandAssetsAuthorityin2019,thereforecreatingtheChileanFinancialMarketCommission(inSpanish,Comisi?ndelMercadoFinanciero,CMF)).

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Ithentestwhetherthesedi§erencescanbeexplainedbyroundingerrorsinthesurveyreports,sincehouseholdstendtoreportroundnumbersthataremultiplesof10.Afterroundingtheregistryloans,I?ndindeedthatsuchamechanismcangoalongwaytowardsexplainingthedi§erencesinthemiddleofthedebtamountdistribution,withthediscrepanciesbetweensurveyandregistrybecomingzeroforalargefractionoftheborrowers.Forthecaseofconsumerinstallmentloans,morethan25%oftheborrowershaveanulldiscrepancyinthedebtamountreportedbetweensurveyandregistryafterrounding,whileformortgageloansthisdiscrepancyis7%orlessformorethan25%oftheborrowers.Finally,Ishowthatborrowerswithcomplexhouseholdsthathaveahighernumberofmemberswiththehighest-income(andpossiblymoreaccesstoloans)andborrowerswhoarenotthehighest-incomeortheoldestmembersofthefamilytendtoshowmorediscrepanciesbetweentheirsurveyreportandtheregistry.Thereasonisthatinsuchsituationstheborrowermaybereportingloansinthesurveythatarenothisorherown(forinstance,thespousereportsaconsumerloanormortgageashisorherdebt,butinfacttheloanwassignedbythehighest-incomehouseholdmember,whowasnotpresentintheinterview).

Household?nancesurveysareusedfortheanalysisofdebtriskandhouseholdstresstests(EurosystemHouseholdFinanceandConsumptionNetwork2009).Ishowhowmismeasurementofborrowerdebta§ectstheevaluationofdebtservicetoincomeratios.Therefore,matchedsurvey-registrydatasetscanimprovethisaspectofpolicyanalysis.Furthermore,improvementofsurveydesignasnewtechnologies(suchas?nancialaggregatorsandeasedsharingofinformation)arebetterabletoelicit?nancialvaluesfromthesurveyrespondentsmayhelptoreducesurveymeasurementerrorinthefuture(Caplin2025).

Thisworkisclosesttostudiesontherelationshipbetweentotaldebtamountsinhousehold?nancesurveysandadministrativedata,suchasZinman2009andBrownetal.2015.Likewise,itrelatestotheliteratureonmeasurementerrorinsurveysusinglinkedsurveyandadministrativeinformation(Boundetal.2001,Schennach2016).Thispaperisalsorelatedtomicroeconomicstudiesofhouseholddebt(Ampudiaetal.2016,Madeira2018b,2019a,2019b)andmorerobustmeasuresofinterpretingsurveyresponses(MadeiraandZafar2015,Madeira2018a).Somestudieshavecomparedsurveyandadministrativerecordsofdebtforasinglelender(KarlanandZinman2008),althoughnotforallbanklendersatthenationallevel.Othercountriesthatalsohavesurvey-administrativematcheddatasetsmayalsowishtofurthertheiranalysisinthisaspect(see

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thecaseofEstoniadetailedbyMerik?llandR??m2020).Severalcountrieshavethesurveyandcreditregistrydatasetsrequiredfordoingsuchananalysis,butoftenthetreatmentofhouseholdsurveydataincon?dentialitymayrequirespeciallegaltreatment.

Thisstudyshowsthe?rstanalysisofhowindividualreportsofdebtcompareinanationallyrepresentativehousehold?nancesurveyandanadministrativeregistrywithfullcoverageofbankingdebts.Ishowthatdelinquencybehaviorandmaturitiesareaccuratelyreportedinsurveydata,whileloanamountshaveasubstantialdegreeofroundingerror.Thisresearch?tswellwiththeanalysisofroundingerrorinothertopics,suchashealthsurveysandexpectations(Giustinellietal.2022).

Thisworkisorganizedasfollows.Section2summarizesthematchedsurvey-bankingregistrydataset.Section3showsthestatisticaldiscrepancyintermsofparticipationofdi§erentloantypesinthesurveydataandregistry.Section4explainsthestatisticalmethodologyformeasuringdi§erencesincontinuousoutcomes,suchasdebtamountsandmaturities,betweenself-reportedandadministrativedata.Ithentesthowmuchofthedi§erencesbetweensurveyandadministrativedebtvaluesforthesameborrowercanbeexplainedbyroundingerrorandoutliers.Section5testsseveralhypothesesaboutthecausesofthediscrepanciesinthesurveydata,includingtheagepro?leoftheinterviewerandincomecomplexityofthehousehold.Section6teststheimplicationsofusingmatchedregistryandsurveydataforthemeasurementofaggregatedebtanddebtrisk.Finally,Section7summarizestheconclusions.

2Thematchedsurvey-bankingregistrydataset

2.1Qualityofthematchingdataset

TheEFHisacross-sectionalsurveyimplementedevery3yearstoaround4,000to4,500households.TheEFHisarepresentativecross-sectionalsurveywithdetailedinformationonhouseholdsíassets,debts,income,and?nancialbehavior,beingbroadlycomparabletosimilarsurveysintheUSandEurope(EurosystemHouseholdFinanceandConsumptionNetwork2009,Ampudiaetal.2016).TheEFHhasaparticularlydetailedfocusoftheloansanddebtcommitmentsofeachhousehold.Itasksforthelargestthreedebtsthateachhouseholdhasforeachtypeofloan,amongatotalof

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13categoriesofloans:bankingcreditcarddebt,bankinglineofcredit,bankingor?nancialagencyconsumercreditloan,retailstorecreditcard,retailstoreconsumerloan,autoloans,unioncredit,educationloans,loansfromrelatives,loansfromusurers,pawnshops,groceryandshoppingoncredit(i.e.,storetabs),andotherdebts.Therefore,thesurveymayaskforuptoatotalof39debtsthatthehouseholdhasatthemoment,althoughobviouslyfewagentswillreporthavingdebtswithallthepossiblecategoriesofloans.LiketheSCFintheUSanditsEuropeanequivalents,theEFHsurveyinterviewsthe"personwiththehighestknowledgeofthehouseholdís?nances",whichislabelledthe"referenceperson".Thereferencepersonorintervieweeisalsousuallyequivalenttothehouseholdhead.Inaround67.5%ofthecasestheinterviewedisalsothehouseholdhead.Furthermore,in89.6%ofthecasestheintervieweeiseitherthehouseholdheadorthepartnerofthehouseholdhead.

Toobtainamoreaccurateviewoftheevolutionofeachhouseholdísindebtednessovertime,theCentralBankofChileandtheChileanBankingAuthority(SBIF)decidedtobuildansurvey-bankingregistrydataset,whereeachsurveyísinformationislinkedtothemonthlybankingcreditinformationforeachmonthovertheperiodJanuary2003toDecember2018.ThelinkbetweeneachhouseholdísmainmemberinthesurveydatasetanditsentirehistoryofbankingdebtismadebyusingChileannationalidentitynumbers.ChileansmakeregularuseoftheirnationalIDtoobtaindiscountsinsupermarketchains,applyforloans,ortousethehealthsystem.Therefore,participatinghouseholdsarecomfortableinprovidingtheirinformationduringthesurveyinterview.Furthermore,eachnationalidentitynumberisfollowedbyavalidationdigit,whichallowsthesurveyortotestwhetherthestatednumberiscorrect.Thispreventsmismatchinginthesensethatitallowsthesurveyortovalidatethattherewasnomistakeintherecordedidentitynumberduringtheinterviewprocess.2

ThenationalIDnumbersofeachsurveyrespondentarethenmatchedwiththeChileanBankingAuthorityregistry,whichincludeallthepeoplewhohaveeverappliedforabankingproduct(whetheraloan,acurrentaccountorasavingsaccount).Table1summarizeshowmanyhouseholdsareobservedineachdataset.Therearearound13,110householdsinthesurveydataset(waves

2Notethatthechanceofrespondentsgivingafalseidandthenstatingitsvalidationdigitcorrectlybyansweringarandomnumberareonly10%.Respondentswouldhavetoknowthefairlycomplexmathbehindthevalidationdigitsinordertogiveafalseidnumberwithacorrectvalidationdigit.Thismakesitextremelyunlikelythattherespondentsíanswersfortheiridnumbersbelongincorrectlytosomeoneelseísid.

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Table1:Numberoftotalrespondentsinthesurveyandmatchedsurvey-registrydatasets

Wave

Survey

Survey-bankingMemberswithsurveydebtregistrypersonsaroundtimeofsurvey

Memberswith

debtinbothsources

2011

4,059

2,329

933

521

2014

4,502

2,362

1,132

638

2017

4,549

3,356

1,790

1,033

Total

13,110

8,047

3,855

2,192

Note:Theregistrydataonlyincludespersonsthathaveeverusedaloanorappliedforaloan.

Therearemorethan8,047personsreportingtheiridsinthesurvey,butsomeofthosepersons

mayhaveneverappliedtoaloan.

2011,2014,2017),with8,047respondentshavingbothgivenacorrectnationalIDnumberandbeingmatchedintheregistrybankingloandataset.3Notably,notallthesurvey-bankingregistryrespondentshadpositiveamountsofdebtatthetimeofthesurvey.Thisimpliesthatonecanonlytestthediscrepanciesinnon-zeroamountsofself-reportedloansfor3,855observations.Positivedebtamountsareobservedinbothsurveyandregistryfor2,192respondents.Thesurveydatasethasmorethan8,047respondentsthatreportedacorrectID.Thoserespondentsarenotapartofthematchedsurvey-bankingregistrydataset,becausetheregistrydatasetonlyhasthepersonsthathaveappliedfororusedabankingproductatsomepoint.Therefore,theactualresponserateforthepersonalIDnumberisgreaterthan61.4%.4

Theexclusionforthisstudyofhouseholdsthatneverhadorappliedforabankingloandoesnot

3TherespondentsíIDdisclosureratechangedovertime,beingmuchhigherinthemostrecentsurveywaveof

2017.Onereasoncouldbeduetochangesin?eldmethods,interviewertraining,supervisionandsurveymanagementfromthe?eldworkcompanies,whichchangedfromtheSocialObservatoryofUniversityAlbertoHurtadoin2011totheIpsoscompanyin2014and2017.Anotherreasoncouldbefromlearningbydoing.TheelicitationoftherespondentsíIDwasimplementedthroughanewinterviewsectionwithseveralsensitivequestions,whichwas?rstaddedin2011.Therefore,thesurveycompaniesmayhavegainedexperienceabouthowtobetterelicitthissensitiveinformationovertime.

4Theresearcherinthisarticledoesnotknowtheexactresponserate,becausethenationalIDnumbersofthesurveyrespondentsarenotdirectlyavailableattheCentralBankofChile.ThenationalIDnumbersaredepositedforreasonsofstatisticalsecrecywiththeNationalInstituteofStatistics,theSocialObservatory(whichimplementedtheEFHwaveof2011)andIpsos(whichimplementedtheEFHwavesof2014and2017).TheCentralBankofChileonlyobtainedapseudo-identi?erforthematchedobservationsoftheEFH-SBIFdatasetandatnopointhadanyaccesstotherealnationalIDs.

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implythatsuchhouseholdobservationsdonotprovideinformation.Forinstance,Madeira2019bstudiedthefractionofhouseholdsthatwereexcludedfromcreditduetoachangeintheinterestrateceilingandinthisaspectitisinformativetohaveinformationonhouseholdswithoutcredit.

Theregistryofbankingloansisconsideredtobeahigh-qualitydataset.Therefore,thislinkeddatasetcanbeusedtovalidatetheself-reportedsurveydebtvalues.Itwouldbeaseriouslegalviolationifbanksfailedtoreportaloan,itsamountandtheinterestratetotheBankingAuthority,since:i)banksareobligedtoreporttheirloanstoregulatorsforriskassessmentpurposes;ii)banksareobligedtoreporteachloan,theamountanditsinterestrateofeachloancomplywiththeusurylawsinChile(theusuryinterestratedi§ersbyloanamount,thereforeboththeinterestrateandtheloanamountmustbeaccuratelyreported).Thisimplieslarge?nesintheshorttermforuncooperativebanksandoverthelongtermitimpliestheexclusionofthebankfromallitslegalactivitiesandcorporatecharter.Furthermore,theBankingAuthorityrequiresallbankstoupdatetheirinformationeverymonth,makingitunlikelythatanyloanerrorswouldremainundetectedanduncorrecteduntilJanuary2019,whichwaswhentheregistryandsurveywerelinked.

Notealsothatbankingproducts,whetherfordeposits,loans,insuranceorother?nancialproducts,operateinasimilarwayinChilerelativetoadvancedeconomies,suchastheUS,CanadaortheEU.Chilehas10bankscurrentlyo§eringloanstohouseholds.ThetwomajorbanksareSpanish(Santander,BBVA).Scotiabank(aCanadianbank)andIta˙(aBrazillianbankwhichpurchasedtheChileanoperationsofCitibank,aUSbank,andHSBC,aBritishbank)arebanksofmediansize.Chiledoeshavesubstantialdi§erencesfrommoredevelopedeconomiesintermsoftheavailabilityofnon-bankdebt.

Thesurvey-bankingregistrymatcheddatasethasafewlimitations:i)theuniverseislimitedtoindividualswhohaveeverappliedorusedabankingproduct(suchasaconsumerloan,mortgage,creditcard,debitcardorcurrentaccount);ii)themonthlyloanhistoryislimitedtobankingloansofdi§erenttypes(consumerinstallmentloans,creditcards,linesofcredit,studentloans,andmortgages)andthereforedoesnotincludeloansfromnon-banklenders;5andiii)thematchedsurvey-bankingregistrydataprovideinformationonthecurrentloanamount,theoriginalloan

5Notethatthissecondlimitationdi§ersfromthe?rstone.Ifallbankcustomershadzeronon-bankloans,thenthissecondlimitationwouldnotmatter.However,around51.6%ofthehouseholdsinthesurvey-registrydatasethadsomeformofnon-bankingdebt.

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amountatthetimethecontractwasmade,thetotalpaymentduetothatloaninacertainmonthandwhethertheloanisindelinquencyornot,butdonotincludeinformationonrenegotiationofloans,interestratesoronotherfeesandcostscharged.6

NotethatinChilethereisasigni?cantpresenceofnon-banklenders.AccordingtotheEFHsurveywaveof2017,around49.8%oftheChileanhouseholdshadsometypeofnon-bankingloans,withabout13.2%ofthehouseholdshadbothbankingandnon-bankingdebt(Madeira2024).Thelargestnon-banklenderintermsofcustomersareretailstores.Forthecaseofthematchedsurvey-registrydata,around51.6%ofthehouseholdshadsomenon-bankingdebtatthetimeofthesurvey.Around41.8%ofthematchedsurvey-registrysamplehadretailstoredebt,7while11.1%hadunionorcooperativedebt8and10.6%hadothertypesofdebt(vehicleoreducationalloans).

Thepopulationofthesurvey-bankingregistrylinkeddatasetisameaningfulpopulation,sinceitisrepresentativeoftheusersandapplicantsofloansfromallthebanksand?nancialinstitutionsinChile,whichare61.4%oftheurbanpopulationinChile.Furthermore,banksareextremelyrelevantlenders,withbankingloansforhouseholdsin2017representing34.5%oftheGDP(with24.4%oftheGDPinbankmortgagesand10.1%oftheGDPinbankconsumerloans).Note,however,thatthesurvey-bankingregistrydatasetcanonlyvalidatetheloanreportsoftherespondents,sincethesurveydoesnotincludetheidentitynumbersoftheotherhouseholdmembers.9

Allthesoftwarecodesnecessaryforformattingthematchedsurvey-registrydataandreplicating

6TheSBIFbankingdebtregistryisnotapaneldataofloans.Itlistsalltheloansofeachindividualinagivenmonth,butitisnotpossibletoconnecteachloanwithloansinotherperiods.Ifanindividualrenegotiatesaloan,thenitisnotpossibletoestablishwhetherthenewloanwastheresultofarenegotiationofapriorloan.

7Somecompanieshavebothretailstoresandbanks.LargeretailcompanieslikeFalabella,ParisandRipleystartedbyo§eringretailcreditandretailcreditcardsintheirstores.Aftersomeyears,thosecompaniesexpandedtowardsbankingbusinesses,whichareoftenlocatednexttotheirretailstores.

8NotethatinChileallformalworkersareregisteredunderalaborunion.Laborunionscollectmembershipfeesdirectlyfromthemembersíwages.Thesefundscanthenbeusedforavarietyofsocialpurposesandalsoforloanstotheirmembers.Furthermore,Chilealsohasasigni?cantpresenceofcreditcooperatives,whichcanextendloanstotheirmembers.

9TheEFHsurveydidsomepretestsinwhichtheintervieweraskedfortheidentitynumberoftherespondentandofa"second?nanciallyrelevantpersoninthehousehold",butrespondentswereeitherunawareoftheidentitynumberoftheothermembersorreluctanttoprovideit.Forthisreason,thematchedsurvey-registryislimitedtotheIDsoftherespondents.

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theempiricalanalysisofthisarticlearepubliclyavailableinaMendeleyDatalink.10Thelinkalsoincludesanonlineappendixtothisarticle,withextrainformationandanalysis.Inparticular,theonlineappendixincludesinformationon:i)thesamplingand?eldoperationsofthesurvey;ii)thesurveyísquestionnaire,speci?callythequestionsondebtandloans;iii)additionalsummarystatisticsofthedata;andiv)theresultsofKolmogorov-SmirnovandGoldman-Kaplantestsoftheequalityofthedebtdistributionsinthesurveyandregistrydatasets(GoldmanandKaplan2018).

3Comparingself-reportedinformationandregistry

Thissectiondivesdeeperintothedi§erencesbetweenself-reportedsurveyloansandadministrativerecords.Istartbycomparingthesurveyandregistryintermsofdebtparticipation(inTable2)anddelinquency(inTable3).Ithencompletethesectionbycomparingthecumulativedistributionfunction(CDF)ofthedebtamountsinthesurveyandregistry.Thisarticlewillstudybankloansclassi?edin4products:mortgages,consumerinstallmentloans,creditcards,creditlines.11Consumerinstallmentloansareloansthatinvolverepaymentoverseveralperiods(installments),whichcangofromafewmonths(forinstance,purchasesofclothingorsmallhouseholditems)toseveralyears(suchasforpaymentsofvehiclesorexpensivefurniture).Thisconsumerdebtcategoryistypicallynotrenewableautomaticallyandthereforeitcanbecontrastedwithrevolvingdebtcategories(creditcardsandlinesofcredit).Furthermore,Ide?netheoverallcategoryofconsumerdebt,whichcomprisesbothconsumerinstallmentloansandrevolvingdebt(creditcards,creditlines).Notethatonlybankingdebtisconsideredintheanalysis,sincetheregistrydoesnotincludenon-banklenders.Thiscomparisonispossiblebecausethesurveyiscarefultodistinguisheachtypeoflenderandloanproduct(seesection2oftheappendix).Currentloanamountsarede?nedasprincipalowed,bothinsurveyandregistry.Thecomparisoninalltheanalysisofthisarticleconsidersthesumofalldebtsofacertainproducttype(mortgages,consumerinstallment

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/datasets/65z482xs9w/1

11Notethatevenifthesamplewas