美联储-自动提高信用额度和消费者福利（英）

Finance and Economics Discussion SeriesFederal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.ISSN 1936-2854 (Print)ISSN 2767-3898 (Online)Automated Credit Limit Increases and Consumer WelfareVitaly M. Bord, Agnes Kovacs, and Patrick Moran2025-088Please cite this paper as:Bord,Vitaly M.,Agnes Kovacs,and Patrick Moran (2025).“Automated CreditLimitIncreasesandConsumerWelfare,”FinanceandEconomicsDiscussionSe-ries 2025-088.Washington:Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2025.088.NOTE: Staff working papers in the Finance and Economics Discussion Series (FEDS) are preliminarymaterials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. The analysis and conclusions set forthare those of the authors and do not indicate concurrence by other members of the research staff or theBoard of Governors. References in publications to the Finance and Economics Discussion Series (other thanacknowledgement) should be cleared with the author(s) to protect the tentative character of these papers.Automated Credit Limit Increases and Consumer Welfare∗Vitaly M. Bord†Agnes Kovacs‡Patrick Moran§September 17, 2025Click for most recent versionAbstractIn the United States, credit card companies frequently use machine learning algo-rithms to proactively raise credit limits for borrowers. In contrast, an increasingnumber of countries have begun to prohibit credit limit increases initiated by banksrather than consumers. In this paper, we exploit detailed regulatory micro datato examine the extent to which bank-initiated credit limit increases are directedtowards individuals with revolving debt. We then develop a model that capturesthe costs and benefits of regulating proactive credit limit increases, which we use toquantify their importance and evaluate the implications for household well-being.∗This paper was prepared for the Carnegie-Rochester-NYU Conference Series on Public Policy. Theviews expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of the FederalReserve Board or the Federal Reserve System. Cord Barnes provided excellent research assistance.†Federal Reserve Board (vitaly.bord@frb.gov)‡King’s College London, University of Manchester, and IFS (agnes.kovacs@kcl.ac.uk)§Federal Reserve Board, IFS, and CEBI (patrick.e.donnellymoran@frb.gov)11IntroductionAs algorithmic decision-making reshapes consumer finance, a critical tension has emergedbetween the efficiency of automated credit decisions and the protection of vulnerableconsumers. In the credit card market, limit increases are a particularly important butunderstudied source of credit, affecting more than 12% of accounts each year. Countriesdiffer in their approach to regulating limit increases. For example, in the United States,the overwhelming majority of these increases are implemented automatically by lendersusing proprietary models rather than requested by consumers. By contrast, reflectingconcerns about indebtedness and consumer protection, several coun