Making Ends Meet Survey

An official U.S. Government agency

Making Ends Meet Survey
Follow-up

Want to take the survey online?
Mobile

Text your unique survey PIN number to 202-883-3381 to receive a

Web

Go to www.CFPBMakingEndsMeet.com and enter your unique

link to directly connect to your survey or;

survey PIN number and 5-digit zip code.

Questions? If you have any technical difficulties, including problems with the

website or any questions about the survey, please call 1-855-246-9457.

For more information about the CFPB, visit www.consumerfinance.gov.

Making Ends Meet Follow-up
Why are we doing a follow-up?
About six months ago, we sent you a survey asking about your experiences managing your
finances. This follow-up survey will help us understand your situation and how it may have
changed.
The information you provide will help shape federal policies to ensure that everyone is treated
fairly and respectfully when they borrow money to make ends meet.
What is the CFPB?
The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP) is sponsoring this survey. The BCFP is a
Federal agency created in 2010 to make mortgage, credit card, automobile, and other
consumer loans work better and ensure that these markets are fair, transparent, and
competitive.
How long will it take?
We expect the survey will take about 30 minutes, but it may vary based on your experiences.
Who should complete this survey?
It is important that this survey is only completed by the person named on the enclosed letter.
Who will see my responses, and how will my responses be used?
Your responses will be used by researchers at the BCFP and others to understand consumers’
experiences. Your responses will be kept private. Participation in the survey will not affect your
credit or credit score.
Privacy Act Statement:
5 U.S.C. 552(a)(e)(3)
The information you provide through your responses to Westat will assist the study sponsor,
the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“Bureau”), in understanding people’s experiences
when money gets tight.
The Bureau will not obtain nor access any directly identifying information from Westat about
study participants. The information collected by Westat will include direct identifying personally
identifiable information (PII) in order to contact you and will be combined with other data that
the Bureau has collected to understand conditions in consumer credit markets in a way that
you cannot be identified. The Bureau will only receive and keep response data stripped of
direct identifying PII.
Information collected on behalf of the Bureau by Westat will be treated in accordance with the
System of Records Notice (“SORN”), CFPB.022, Market and Consumer Research Records,

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/11/14/2012-27582/privacy-act-of-1974-asamended. Although the Bureau does not anticipate further disclosing the information provided,
it may be disclosed as indicated in the Routine Uses described in the SORN. Direct identifying
information will only be used by Westat to facilitate the study and will be kept private except as
required by law. The Bureau may make an anonymous version of the survey data publically
available.
This collection of information is authorized by Pub. L. No. 111-203, Title X, Sections 1013 and
1022, codified at 12 U.S.C. §§ 5493 and 5512.
Participation in this exercise is voluntary. You may withdraw participation at any time.
However, if you do not include the requested information, you may not participate in the study.
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement:
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor,
and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid
OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3170-0066. It expires on
10/31/2019. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average
approximately 30 minutes per response. Comments regarding this collection of information,
including the estimated response time, suggestions for improving the usefulness of the
information, or suggestions for reducing the burden to respond to this collection should be
submitted to the Bureau at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Attention: PRA Office),
1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20552, or by email to [email protected].
[]

A. Your General Financial Situation and Experiences
1. How well do these statements describe you or your situation?
This statement describes my situation . . .
Completely

Very well

Somewhat

Very little

Not at all

I know how to make complex
financial decisions.
I am just getting by financially.
I am concerned that the money
I have or will save won’t last.
Because of my money situation,
I feel like I will never have the
things I want in life.

2.

How often do these statements apply to you?

This statement applies to me . . .
Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

I have money left over at the
end of the month.
My finances control my life.

3. In the last 6 months, how have your normal household expenses like food, clothing, rent, or other
bills that you pay regularly changed?
Gone up
About the same
Gone down

4. In the last 6 months, how variable was your income?
Income was about the same each month
Income varied somewhat from month to month
Income varied a lot from month to month

B. Household Events
5.

C. Household Finances

In the past 6 months, has your household
experienced a significant, unexpected, or
involuntary drop in income from any of the
following?
Yes

8.

What is your current work status? Mark
all that apply including for your spouse or
partner if you have one.
You

No

Spouse/
Partner

Self-employed
Work full time
Work part time
Retired
Temporarily laid off or on leave
Unemployed
Not working for pay (homemaker,
student, disabled, etc.)

Period of unemployment
Reduction in work hours
Changed to a lower-paying job
Loss of government benefits
Worked less because of illness or injury
Retired
Could not work because someone in
your household was in jail
Other significant drop in income

9. Are you actively looking for a job or
another job if you already have one?

6. In the past 6 months, have any of the
following happened to your household?
Yes

No

Someone in your household got married
Someone in your household divorced or
separated
Someone in your household died,
including a parent
Someone was born, adopted, or moved
into your household
Someone left your household
Someone in your household went to jail
Natural disaster affected your home or
business
You moved to a new residence

Yes
No

10. In the last 6 months, has the amount of
money your household has in checking and
savings gone up, stayed about the same, or
gone down?
Gone up
About the same
Gone down

11. In the past 6 months, have you or others in
your household overdrawn on a checking
or savings account or had a payment
turned down because the account balance
was less than the charge?

7. In the past 6 months, has your household
experienced a significant unexpected
expense from any of the following?
Yes

No

A major medical or dental expense
Gift or loan to a family member or
friend outside your household
A major vehicle repair or replacement
A major house or appliance repair
A TV, computer, or mobile phone repair
or replacement
Legal expenses or fines
Taxes or fees
Theft or robbery
Increase in child care or dependent care
expenses
Other major unexpected expense

No
Skip to question 13
Yes, overdrafted
Yes, turned down

12. In the past 6 months, how many times
have you or others in your household
overdrawn a checking or savings
account or had a payment turned
down?
1-3 times
4-10 times
More than 10 times

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D. Running Out of Money
13. At any time in past 6 months have you or your household had difficulty paying for an expense?
Yes
No

Skip to section D on page XX

14. How often did you have trouble?
Only once in the last 12 months
2 times
3 or 4 times
5 to 12 times
More than 12 times

15. When was the most recent time you or your household had trouble paying an expense?
1-3 months ago
4-6 months ago
7-9 months ago
10-12 months ago

16. Thinking about the most recent time you had trouble, was there an event or expense that caused
this difficulty?
Yes
No

17. What was that event or expense? Please mark all that apply.
Medical expenses or fees
Loss of income from illness
Loss of job
Other loss of income
Home repair
Auto repair
Taxes, fees, or legal bills
Legal bills
Death or funeral costs
Helping children, parents, or other family members
Student loan, school, or tuition costs
Moving costs
Fraud or theft
Other (please specify)

18. About how large was the expense or loss in income?
$____________

19. Was this event or expense expected or unexpected?
Skip to
question 23 in
Section E

Expected
Unexpected

4

22. A major expense for one thing may make it
hard to pay other bills or expenses. When
you ran out of money, what were you
unable to pay for? Please mark all that
apply.

20. Which of the following did you do when
you had difficulty paying that expense?
Please mark all that apply.
Did not pay for all of this expense
Negotiated a lower or delayed payment for
this expense
Cut back on other expenses
Paid another bill late or skipped a payment
Increased income, for example, by working
overtime or taking an extra job
Sold something you
Pawned something
Took money from savings, investment, or a
retirement account
Borrowed from an IRA, 401k, or retirement
account
Used a credit card
Took out or used a home equity line of credit
Took out a loan from a bank, credit union, or
other financial institution
Borrowed from friends or family
Took out a payday loan
Took out an auto-title loan
Other (please specify)

A medical expense
A car or vehicle repair
A home repair
Food
Mortgage or rent
Utilities
Other regular household expenses
Another major expense
Other (please specify)

21. If you borrowed money, why did you
choose this way of borrowing money over
another option? Please mark all that apply
It was the lowest cost option
It was familiar; I had used it before
The terms, like price or repayment options,
were easy to understand
It was convenient
It was the only option I could qualify for
I could get the money quickly
There was no credit check
It was available online
Family or friends recommended it to me
I did not want anybody to know that I needed
money
Other (please specify)

5

33. How likely do you think it is that you will
take one of the following in the next 6
months?

E. Experiences with Credit
23. Have you taken out a payday loan in the
past 6 months? (A payday loan is a loan that
you must repay, rollover, or make a payment
on your next payday.)

Very
likely

Likely

Unlikely

Very
unlikely

New credit card
Mortgage to
buy a house
Loan to buy a
car
Pawn shop loan
Auto title loan
Payday loan in
store
Payday loan
online
Some other loan

Yes
No

24. Have you rolled over a payday
loan more than once in the last
6 months?
Yes
No

25. Do you still owe money on any
payday loan?
Yes
No

26. Did you take out a payday loan
online in the past 6 months?

34. Do you currently have a credit card?
Yes
No

Yes
No

35. Did you have an unpaid balance
on any of your cards after
making your last payment?

27. Have you taken out a pawn shop loan in the
past 6 months?
Yes
No

Yes
No

28. Do you still owe money on
any pawn shop loan?

36. Thinking of all of your credit
cards, how do you think the
following will change in the
next 6 months?

Yes
No

29. Have you taken out a new loan to buy a car
in the past 6 months?

Decrease

Yes
No

Stay the
same

Increase

The balance you
carry month to
month
Your credit card
limit
Number of credit
cards

30. Do you still owe money on
any auto loan?
No
Yes

31. Have you taken out an auto-title loan in the
past 6 months? (An auto-title loan uses the
car’s value to borrow money for a short
period of time.)

37. When was the last time you checked your
credit score or credit report?
Never
At least one year ago
Within the last year

Yes
No

38. How do you think your credit score
has changed since the last time you
checked it?

32. Do you still owe money on
any auto-title loan?
Yes
No

Gone up
Stayed about the same
Gone down

6

We have provided the space below if you wish to share additional comments or further explain any of
your responses. Please do not put your name or address on the questionnaire.

Thank you for completing our survey!
Please use the enclosed business reply envelope to return your completed questionnaire to:
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
1600 Research Blvd., RC B16
Rockville, MD 20850

Want to take the survey online?
Mobile

Web

Text your unique survey PIN number to 202-883-3381 to receive a link to
directly connect to your survey or;
Go to www.CFPBMakingEndsMeet.com and enter your unique
survey PIN number and 5-digit zip code.

Questions? If you have any technical difficulties, including problems with the

website or any questions about the survey, please call 1-855-246-9457.

For more information about the CFPB, visit www.consumerfinance.gov

7