Can Personal Budget Management Services Improve Debt Repayments? A Study Using Budget Data*

We investigate the effect of personal budget management services provided by a financial institution on undesirable debts of 4,256 individuals and families over a period of one year using objective budget data spanning three years. Results from this study using an Australian dataset show that the majority of the participants reduced their debt repayments and debt repayment to income ratio over a period of one year, Our results also show that the majority of the participants hod an increase in funds available for living expenses and savings.