Can Personal Budget Management Services Improve Debt Repayments? A Study Using Budget Data*
, e | 22 mar 2024
INFORMAZIONI SU QUESTO ARTICOLO
Pubblicato online: 22 mar 2024
Pagine: 10 - 25
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fprj-2022-0001
© 2022 Iqbal Madakkatel et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Descriptive statistics (median value and IQR for each quarter, divided by three) on the income and expenses data provided. There were 4,256 participants considered for this study.
| Variable | QI | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income received | 5,516 | 5,600 | 5,531 | 5,502 |
| 4,028-7,762 | 4,060-7,760 | 4,000-7,729 | 3,968-7,718 | |
| Debt repayment | 639 | 653 | 631 | 567 |
| 327-1,116 | 311-1,145 | 271-1,133 | 229-1,060 | |
| Funds for living expenses/saving | 2,624 | 2,756 | 2,740 | 2,821 |
| 1,882-3,701 | 1,938-3,946 | 1,883-4,032 | 1,903-4,148 |
Descriptive statistics on the sociodemographic data provided by the financial Institution and used for this study. There were in total 4,256 participants considered for this study.
| Variable | Description | # Participants | Missing | Min | Max | Median (IQR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adults | Count of adult account holders on the account | 4,256 | - | 1 | 2 | 1 (1-2) |
| One adult | 2,380 | |||||
| Two adults | 1,876 | |||||
| Children | Number of children in the family unit | - | 0 | 8 | 1 (0-2) | |
| No child | 1,991 | - | ||||
| One or more child | 2,265 | - | 1 | 8 | 2(1-3) | |
| Age | Age of main account holder | 4,256 | - | 20 | 64 | 37(31-46) |
| Initial Income | Expected annual income provided by participants at the time of joining | 4,256 | 4 | 14,544 | 623,674 | 65,318(47,779 - 90,483) |
Comparing beginning (first quarter) and ending (fourth quarter) income received, debt repayment, debt repayment to income ratio, and funds available for living expenses/saving and its income ratio.
| Variable | Z (no grouping) | Z (single) | Z (Joint) | Z (no children) | Z (children) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income received | -0.68 (P=0.49) | -0.11 (P=0.92) | -0.81 (P=0.42) | -1.44(P=0.15) | -1.99 |
| Debt repayment | -8.82 |
-4.53 |
-7.86 |
-4.03 |
-8.20 |
| Debt repayment to income ratio | -8.10 |
-4.24 |
-7.58 |
-3.71 |
-7.82 |
| Funds available for living expenses/saving | -12.25 |
-7.57 |
-9.71 |
-9.09 |
-8.32 |
| Funds available for living expenses/saving to income ratio | -15.35 |
-9.19 |
-13.19 |
-10.10 |
-11.70 |
Correlation coefficients for Income, debt repayment, debt repayment to Income ratio, funds for living expense/saving, its income ratio and age.
| Variable 1 | Variable 2 | Spearman’s rho |
|---|---|---|
| Income for the first quarter | Income for the fourth quarter | 0.84 |
| Income for the first quarter | Debt repayment for the first quarter | 0.45 |
| Debt repayment for the first quarter | Debt repayment for the fourth quarter | 0.59 |
| Debt repayment to income ratio for the first quarter | Debt repayment to income ratio for the fourth quarter | 0.55 |
| Income for the first quarter | Funds for living expense/saving for the first quarter | 0.84 |
| Funds for living expense/saving for the first quarter | Funds for living expense/saving for the fourth quarter | 0.75 |
| Funds for living expense/saving to income ratio for the first quarter | Funds for living expense/saving to income ratio for the fourth quarter | 0.51 |
| Age of main account holder | Income for the first quarter | 0.21 |
| Age of main account holder | Debt repayment for the first quarter | 0.04 |
| Age of main account holder | Funds for living expense/saving for the first quarter | 0.12 |
Results of testing the differences in distribution of income, debt repayment, debt repayment to income ratio, and funds available for living/saving using Mann-Whitney U test.
| Variable | Za | Zb |
|---|---|---|
| Income for the first quarter | -42.35 |
-26.02 |
| Income for the fourth quarter | -40.32 |
-23.62 |
| Debt repayment for the first quarter | -18.44 |
-4.13 |
| Debt repayment to income ratio for the first quarter | -2.32 |
-9.72 |
| Debt repayment for the fourth quarter | -13.21 |
-1.17 ( |
| Debt repayment to income ratio for the fourth quarter | -3.59 |
-9.84 |
| Funds for living expense/saving for the first quarter | -37.33 |
-26.5 |
| Funds for living expense/saving to income ratio for the first quarter | -3.01 |
-4.11 |
| Funds for living expense/saving for the fourth quarter | -33.33 |
-22.02 |
| Funds for living expense/saving to income ratio for the fourth quarter | -0.63 ( |
-3.36 |
Beginning (first quarter) and ending (fourth quarter) Income received, debt repayment, debt repayment to Income ratio, and funds available for living expenses/saving and Its Income ratio. Ratios are given In percent and we observed similar trends In mean values also.
| Variable | Quarter | Z(no grouping) | Z(single) | Z(Joint) | Z(no children) | Z (children) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income received | First | 5,516 | 4,308 | 7,724 | 4,397 | 6,716 |
| Fourth | 5,502 | 4,302 | 7,674 | 4,458 | 6,649 | |
| Debt repayment | First | 639 | 513 | 863 | 598 | 673 |
| Fourth | 567 | 478 | 732 | 563 | 570 | |
| Debt repayment to income ratio | First | 11.63 | 11.97 | 11.30 | 13.28 | 10.40 |
| Fourth | 10.57 | 11.21 | 9.93 | 12.62 | 9.11 | |
| Funds available for living expenses/saving | First | 2,624 | 2,060 | 3,603 | 2,099 | 3,216 |
| Fourth | 2,821 | 2,184 | 3,951 | 2,255 | 3,444 | |
| Funds available for living expenses/saving to income ratio | First | 48.22 | 48.89 | 47.64 | 47.21 | 48.98 |
| Fourth | 51.68 | 51.64 | 51.73 | 50.67 | 52.48 |