Monthly Payment Research Articles

Modernizing Utility Collections through Customer Analytics and AI

The 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic introduced economic calamity and uncertainty in America that had not been seen since the 2007–2008 financial crisis. What began as an uncertain period for individual well‐being soon translated into broader economic issues for the American economy. Businesses facing months of lost revenue, deficits, and uncertainty began weakening financially and, as a result, were forced to reduce staff. In the years that have followed, industries which have historically been able to count on stable revenue, such as utilities, particularly suffered. Struggling households and small businesses began missing consecutive monthly payments, and customer debt climbed to unprecedented levels. As of March 2023, “one in six households across the country were behind on their electric bills.”1 Additionally, instances of non‐residential customers falling behind on their payments emerged. Historic levels of arrears continue to mount pressure on the industry, and traditional approaches to arrear collection are not working.

Face-to-face fundraising and the dialectics of appearance

ABSTRACT Face-to-face fundraising (F2F) emerged in the 1990s as an innovative mode of charity fundraising, whereby paid fundraisers – often employed through for-profit agencies – solicit members of the public to sign-up for monthly direct-debit payments. Despite its everyday visibility – and public critical reception – this instance of the ubiquitous intersection of humanitarianism and commodification, integral to contemporary capitalism, remains unexplored. This paper fills this gap but, in the process, draws some theoretical lessons germane to this literature and to materialist critique more generally. I argue that the peculiar dialectics of appearance operative in the political economy of F2F resists interpretation in terms of extant conceptual appreciations of other modalities of ‘commodified compassion’ and in materialist conceptual vocabularies in political economy scholarship more broadly. Far from ‘mere appearance’, F2F’s abstract form of ‘shared humanity’ is not simply an ethical veneer to be bypassed in unveiling the concrete (re)production of inequalities in humanity, as is the general tendency in materialist critique. Rather, this appearance is essential for its functioning and those concrete inequalities are written into this form, rather than existing behind/beyond it. This, I suggest, is captured effectively by a ‘dialectical materialist’ take on the Marxian theory of the commodity form.

Rising Auto Loan Delinquencies and High Monthly Payments

Delinquency rates on auto loans rose substantially to above pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023, after falling to historical lows during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because auto loans are an important sector in consumer credit, accounting for about 25 percent of nonmortgage consumer credit, a deeper analysis of the increase in delinquencies can give insights into the financial health of borrowers in consumer credit markets and overall household financial well-being.

The expanded Child Tax Credit and low-income families’ food insecurity: Associations across and within months of receipt

In response to the pandemic-induced economic crisis for U.S. families, the federal government expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) via the distribution of monthly payments in the second half of 2021. Studies have found that these monthly payments corresponded with reductions in food insecurity, but what is not yet clear is whether these declines were stable across and within the months of receipt. Using novel, daily survey data among a sample of low-income families at high risk of food insecurity (N = 146), we tested whether the CTC payments were associated with stable rates of day-to-day food security. We found consistent declines in food insecurity across CTC months, though smaller declines for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who experienced lower food insecurity rates, on average. Within a CTC month, we found that food insecurity was stable for non-SNAP families for the first few weeks, but spiked in the week prior to the next payment. SNAP families’ within-month patterns of food insecurity, however, appeared to be tied more to their SNAP benefit timing than CTC payment timing. Both groups saw end-of-the-month spikes in food insecurity among those who received higher CTC amounts, suggesting the money may have been more difficult to stretch across families with a greater number of children. These results suggest that the effectiveness of cash payments like the CTC in reducing economic hardships may depend on family characteristics like receipt of other federal benefits and household size. Accordingly, future provisions of cash assistance may benefit from going beyond income alone and tailoring the amount to a family’s benefits package.

Impact of Alternative Income Assistance Payment Schedules on Health and Social Service Access in Canada: Evidence from an Experimental Study

Despite mitigating the severe impacts of poverty, synchronized, monthly government income assistance payments can negatively impact people who use drugs, including disrupting service utilization. This study evaluates whether changing payment timing and frequency impacts health and social service access. This secondary analysis of an exploratory, parallel, unblinded, randomized controlled trial assessed data collected between 2015–2019 from income assistance recipients who use drugs in British Columbia, Canada (n = 194). Participants were randomly assigned for six monthly payment cycles to: (a) synchronized government schedules (control); (b) desynchronized “staggered” single monthly payments; or (c) desynchronized “split & staggered” twice-monthly payments. Generalized linear mixed models assessed utilization of, and barriers to, acute/emergency healthcare, community healthcare, psychosocial services and material/legal services. Mixed results showed increases in access to psychosocial services and material/legal services, but also increases in the barriers to community healthcare and material/legal services. Changing payment schedules may alter access to services in complex ways implicating practice, organizational and interagency adaptations for marginalized populations. Results support the importance of social service agency involvement in income assistance policy reform discussions to ensure effective service delivery. Further research should include perspectives from service providers and utilize agency administration data to better understand payment schedules and service provision dynamics.

Student Debt Associated with Entry-level Athletic Training Education.

Borrowers burdened by high student debt generally experience financial constraints that can impact them both personally and professionally. To date no published data exists that profiles the education-related debt accrued by entry-level certified athletic trainers. To assess the scope and scale of student debt associated with the completion of an entry-level athletic training degree. Cross-sectional study. Online web-based survey. Participants were recruited with assistance from the National Athletic Trainers' Association, who disseminated the survey to 18,689 certified athletic trainers who were members in good standing and who had earned their certification between 2004 and 2022. A total of 2,271 individuals accessed the survey. The overall amount of student debt incurred to complete an entry-level degree in athletic training and the initial monthly repayment amount were collected from survey respondents. Education-related debt-to-income ratio (DTIR) and monthly payment DTIR which are measures of financial health/stability were also calculated from the acquired survey data. Among athletic trainers who took out student loans, the average amount owed by entry-level athletic trainers for the period spanning 20042022 was $61,717, with an average initial monthly loan payment amount reported to be $453. The mean education related DTIR calculated from respondents was 169%, which exceeded the benchmark value of 100% recommended within the finance industry. Also, the average monthly payment DTIR calculated from study participants was .144, which approached the recommended acceptable upper-limit of .15. Education-related DTIR and monthly payment DTIR values reported by respondents suggests the potential for entry-level athletic trainers to experience financial challenges related to their student debt.

„Našlaičiams vaikams reikalinga pagalba“: pamestinukų žindyvės Vilniuje XVIII amžiaus antrojoje pusėje

The article focuses on the wet-nurses for foundlings in Vilnius in the second half of the eighteenth century when the number of children abandoned by their parents grew significantly. Wet-nurses who nursed foundlings have already received some attention in previous historiography, however, there have been no attempts to more thoroughly explore who were the women employed by hospitals and other charitable institutions as wet-nurses, what were the conditions of their employment, and how important could the income earned from this work have been in supporting their households. The research, based primarily on two distinct lists of foundlings and wet-nurses from 1789 and 1790 (see apendices), reveals that the wet-nurses were married Catholic women who had given birth several months earlier. The sources show that, throughout the second half of the eighteenth century, their monthly payment of 8 złotys remained unchanged despite inflation or other economic processes as well as the the increase in demand of women able and willing to work as wet-nurses for foundlings when the numbers of abandoned children grew significantly. Nevertheless, such employment provided women with, albeit low, but permanent and–if the nursling did not perish early–lasting income. The research demonstrates that at least some of the wet-nurses were married to artisans and merchants, and resided in Vilnius and its suburbs, not, as was usual in other European regions, the countryside, although there are indications in later sources that foundlings were actually placed with nurses of the surrounding countryside. The registers of baptisms and marriages reveal that at least some of these women were married, baptized their own children at the parish church of St John, and acted as godmothers to the children of other parishioners. However, the data on the social status of women employed as wet-nurses for foundlings is insufficient to confirm that–just like in other European cities–they were destitute and came from the lowest strata of society.

Assessment of Willingness to Pay for Wetlands Protection in Ondo State, Nigeria

Wetlands provide numerous kinds of advantages and functions, making them vital ecosystems. However, the exploitation of these resources has led to their significant depletion. Engaging communities who rely on wetlands in their sustainable management is crucial to stem the degradation of these critical habitats. This research investigated the willingness of individuals to donate financially to the conservation of wetlands in Ondo State, Nigeria. It aimed to identify the factors influencing the community's willingness to pay (WTP) and to measure the financial commitment made to wetland restoration. A systematic multi-phase sample method was used to survey 124 people who lived close to wetlands. The Binary Probit Regression Model (BPRM), the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), and descriptive statistics were all included in the analysis. The results show that the majority of respondents (64.5%) were men, with an average age of 60 and a typical household size of six people. The importance of wetlands as water reserves was emphasized by more than half of the respondents (52%) to the survey. Moreover, 53% of respondents said that they would be willing to contribute financially to the conservation of wetlands, with an average monthly payment of ₦1038.68. Gender, household size, proximity to wetlands, and yearly income were found to be significant predictors of WTP for wetland preservation in the BPRM analysis. The study highlights the community's overall willingness to contribute to wetlands protection. It promotes laws and initiatives meant to raise regional revenues and encourage more community participation in wetland preservation.

Spatial Injustice and the Informal Housing Market in the United States: How Predatory Practices Impact upon Geographies

A large share of the African American population in the U.S. lives in poor areas characterized by high unemployment, low housing quality, and unhealthy living conditions, thus making low socioeconomic status a critical risk factor. Consequently, the higher Covid-19 death toll paid by Black Americans has been linked to the Redlining policies introduced by the Home Owners Loan Corporation in the 1930s. These policies are believed to have contributed to the development of segregated neighborhoods and ghettoization. Nowadays, we implicitly support a new form of Redlining, which comes in the different shape of the formal/informal market divide in housing. In fact, two pathways to homeownership have always existed in this legal framework. On the one hand, there is a well-established legal regime that provides families with a secure and marketable title to their homes. On the other hand, an informal regime is applied where the most vulnerable citizens (such as Blacks, Latinos, immigrants, and the poor) buy ‘on contract’. This is similar to an installment land contract whereby the seller can easily repossess the house since they are entitled to evict the would-be owner even when a single monthly payment is missed. Indeed, such contracts grew in number particularly in the aftermath of the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, when the lack of equal access to credit for homeownership led many people to buy houses ‘on contract’. The article aims to show how these predatory lending practices, by fostering ghettoization, favored inequalities and jeopardized the spatial allocation of justice in the U.S.

Expansion of Child Tax Credits and Mental Health of Parents With Low Income in 2021.

The 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion, as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, offered financial relief through generous monthly tax benefits to families with children amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of heightened concerns about mental health during the pandemic, the expanded CTC may have alleviated parental mental health challenges, especially within families with low income. To investigate the association between the 2021 CTC expansion and mental health among parents with low income as measured by depression and anxiety symptoms. This repeated cross-sectional study used data from the Household Pulse Survey covering April 14, 2021, to January 10, 2022, in the US. A difference-in-difference-in-differences estimator combined with propensity score matching was used to estimate the association of the expanded CTC with mental health symptoms among households with income less than $35 000. The monthly payment of expanded CTC from July 15 to December 15, 2021. Parental mental health was measured by analyzing depression and anxiety symptoms using logistic regression. The weighted sample comprised 546 366 adults (mean [SD] age, 43.02 [14.54] years; 52.9% female). The most common education level was high school or less (36.0%), the highest frequency of household income distribution was $50 000 to $74 999 (16.1%), and the majority of the sample was employed (67.3%). The weighted mean (SD) number of children in the household was 0.92 (1.18). For the full sample, receiving expanded CTC benefits was associated with lower odds of experiencing anxiety symptoms (odds ratio, 0.730; 95% CI, 0.598-0.890). Subgroup analyses indicated that the positive associations of the policy with anxiety symptoms were particularly pronounced among the female, working-age (17-60 years), non-Hispanic White, and higher education groups. However, the policy expansion had no association with depression. These findings may provide valuable evidence for policy makers to consider when deliberating on the possibility of making the CTC expansion permanent or transforming it into a universal program.

Optimization of Electronic Health Record Usability Through a Department-Led Quality Improvement Process.

Electronic health records (EHR) have become commonplace in medicine. A disconnect between developers and users while creating the interface often fails to create a product that captures clinical workflow, and issues become apparent with implementation. Optimization allows collaboration of clinicians and informaticists after implementation, but documentation of success has only been at the institutional level. A 4-month, department-wide EHR optimization was conducted with information technology (IT). Optimizations were developed from an intensive quality improvement process involving all levels of clinicians and clinical staff. The optimizations were then categorized as accommodations (department adjusted workflow to EHR), creations (IT developed new workflows within EHR), discoveries (department found workflows within EHR), and modifications (IT changed workflows within EHR). Departmental productivity, defined as number of visits, charges, and payments, was standardized to ratios prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluated by Taylor's change point analysis. Significant improvements were defined as shifts (change points), trends (5 or more consecutive values above/below the mean), and values outside 95% CIs. The 124 optimizations were categorized as 43 accommodations, 13 creations, 54 discoveries, and 14 modifications. Productivity ratios of monthly charges (0.74 to 1.28) and payments (0.83 to 1.58) significantly improved with the optimization efforts. Monthly visit ratios increased (0.65 to 0.98) but did not change significantly. Departmental collaboration with organizational IT for EHR optimization focused on detailed analysis of how workflows can impact productivity. Discovery optimization predominance indicates many solutions to EHR usability problems were already in the system. A large proportion of accommodation optimizations reinforced the need for better developer-user collaboration before implementation.Annals Early Access.

Consumption responses to an unconditional child allowance in the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic put families in the United States under financial stress. The federal government’s largest response in 2021 was the American Rescue Plan Act, which temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) into a large, unconditional child allowance providing monthly payments to families with children. This study investigates consumption responses to the CTC expansion using anonymized mobile-location data and debit/credit card data that track visits and spending at 1.3 million establishments across US counties. For identification, we exploit variation in the size of households’ income gains due to the CTC across counties in a difference-in-differences framework spanning January 2021 to May 2022. Counties benefiting most from the CTC expansion experienced larger increases in visits to childcare centres and health- and personal-care establishments, and increased visits to and spending per transaction at grocery and general stores. These findings suggest that the CTC expansion increased household consumption and spending on children.

Association between Child Tax Credit advance payments and food insufficiency in households experiencing economic shocks.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought increases in economic shocks due to poor health and lost employment, which reduced economic well-being, especially in households with children. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments to include eligibility for the lowest income households, boosted benefit levels, and provided monthly advance payments to households with children. Using Census Household Pulse Survey respondent data from January 2021 to July 2022, we evaluated the association between these advance CTC monthly payments and food insufficiency among households with children experiencing health- or employment-related economic shocks (defined as missed work due to COVID-19/other illness or COVID-19-related employer closure/layoff/furlough). Using a triple difference design, we found that the advance CTC was associated with greater reductions in food insufficiency among households with children experiencing economic shocks both compared with households without children and with households with children not experiencing economic shocks. Permanently expanding the advance CTC could create resilience to economic shocks during disease outbreaks, climate disasters, and recessions.

Personal Loan Simulation Using R Shiny

Banking digitalization requires the use of IT tools. In this paper, we propose to use a programming tool "R studio". Indeed, this research consists of simulating the loan calculation using R shiny. The simulator operation show through screenshots of some application interfaces. The loan calculation simulator allows you to evaluate the amount of a loan or the amount of a monthly payment of a borrower based on several variables: the rate, the amount, the monthly payment and the repayment period.

Willingness to Keep or to Give Up the Social Media for a Certain Monetary Compensation

Millions of people around the world use social media every day for various reasons, whether it is sharing information, self-presentation, filling free time, or communicating with friends. The use of social networks brings with it advantages, but also risks associated with information overload, loss of privacy, as well as fraud or criminal acts. Mostly young people are connected to social networks almost constantly and find it more difficult to give up using social networks compared to older age groups. The aim of the present paper is to find out the willingness of social network users to give up social network such as Facebook and Instagram for certain monetary compensation. The necessary data were collected based on a questionnaire survey within 4 months. A total of 2 095 responses were collected. The static methods Chi-Square test of independence, logistic regression and the statistical program SAS Enterprise Guide were used to evaluate the results of the questionnaire survey. Analysis of Maximum Likelihood Estimates was tested for five predictors: Age, Gender, Income, Activity on the social network, Number of subscribers on the social network, especially for the social network Facebook and Instagram. Based on the results of the questionnaire survey, it can be concluded that Facebook users (in all age groups and regardless of gender) demand a higher average monthly financial compensation for giving up the social network compared to Instagram users. The same conclusion follows when categorizing respondents into age categories. Regarding gender, women demand lower monetary compensation than men in relation to both social networks. There was a significant difference in the Activity predictor, where active users asked for a higher amount of money for the Instagram social network and, conversely, inactive users asked for a higher average monthly payment for the Facebook social network.
 
 Received: 25 July 2023 / Accepted: 20 November 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

Effect of modified income assistance payment schedules on substance use service access: Evidence from an experimental study

BackgroundDespite being critical to reducing the impacts of poverty internationally, synchronized monthly government income assistance payments are linked to intensified drug use and associated harms, including disrupted access to substance use-related services. This study evaluates whether alternative income assistance distribution schedules improve harm reduction (HR), pharmacotherapy and substance use service utilization. MethodsThis exploratory, parallel group, unblinded, randomized controlled trial analyzed data from adults (n = 192) in Vancouver, Canada receiving income assistance, and reporting active, regular illicit drug use. Participants were randomly assigned on a 1:2:2 basis for six income assistance payment cycles to: (1) existing government schedules (control); (2) a “staggered” single monthly payment; or (3) “split & staggered” twice-monthly payments. Generalized linear mixed models analyzed secondary outcomes of HR, pharmacotherapy and substance use service utilization as well as barriers accessing these services. ResultsForty-five control, 71 staggered, and 76 split & staggered volunteers participated between 2015 and 2019. Multivariable modified per-protocol analyses demonstrate increased access to substance use services (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.64, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.02–2.64) for split & staggered arm participants, and, conversely, increased barriers to HR for participants in the staggered (AOR 2.34, 95% CI 1.24–4.41) and split & staggered (AOR 2.16, 95% CI 1.08–4.35) arms. Results also showed decreased barriers to pharmacotherapy around government payments (AOR 0.23, 95% CI 0.06–0.90), pharmacotherapy around individual payments (AOR 0.12, 95% CI 0.02–0.58), and HR around individual payments (AOR 0.11, 95% CI 0.02–0.63) for staggered arm participants. ConclusionModifying payments schedules demonstrate improved access to overall substance use services, and reduced barriers to HR and pharmacotherapy around income assistance payments. However, increased overall barriers to HR access were also shown. These complex, predominantly beneficial findings support the exploration of offering alternative payment schedules to support service access.

A Fuzzy Inventory Model Using Pentagonal Fuzzy Numbers

Transportation expenses may have an effect on significant business sectors. They could affect a company's price of goods as well as its capacity to remain competitive in the market. Another way to maximize transportation expenses is through inventory management. Prevent needless overstocking and incomplete shipments by keeping an accurate inventory and managing stock levels. This lowers the price of shipping extra items or broken shipments. Nonlinear Programming Kuhn Tucker Method is used to find the optimal solution, which has an impact on the monthly payment. The signed distance approach is used for defuzzification in the proposed model, and the Pentagonal fuzzy number is used to find the lowest cost. To test the inventory model, we create a CSV file and use Weka software to analyse the Economic Order Quantity and total cost.

Increase in Pharmacy First monthly payment threshold delayed to January 2025

Increase in Pharmacy First monthly payment threshold delayed to January 2025

Pharmacy First monthly payment threshold cut for a second time

Pharmacy First monthly payment threshold cut for a second time

A Demand Curve for Disaster Recovery Loans

We estimate and trace a credit demand curve for households that recently experienced damage to their homes from a natural disaster. Our administrative data include over one million applicants to a federal recovery loan program for households. We estimate extensive‐margin demand over a large range of interest rates. Our identification strategy exploits 24 natural experiments, leveraging exogenous, time‐based variation in the program's offered interest rate. Interest rates meaningfully affect consumer demand throughout the distribution of rates. On average, a 1 percentage point increase in the interest rate reduces loan take‐up by 26%. We find a large impact of applicants' credit quality on demand and evidence of monthly payment targeting. Using our estimated demand curve and information on program costs, we find that the program generates an average social surplus of $2900 per borrower.