Immigration and Credit in America

Immigrants enter the U.S. with a blank credit history, regardless of age or home country experience. Motivated by this, we study the assimilation of immigrants into American consumer credit markets. We find immigrants are positively selected: immediately upon credit market entry, immigrant credit scores are 20 to 35 points higher than non-immigrants, on average. Despite their greater creditworthiness, immigrants–especially those who arrive later–are delayed in their credit access and have lower average credit card limits for up to a decade. Immigrants are also less likely to access auto loans and mortgages, a gap that persists into their forties and is unexplained by geographic fixed effects.

Keywords: Immigration, Credit History, Household Credit, Thin Credit Files, Credit Reporting Data, Credit Access, Household Debt, Consumer Credit, Household Finance, Credit Access, Credit Bureau

JEL Classification: D14, G51, J11, J15, J61, R23

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cookson, J. Anthony and Guttman-Kenney, Benedict and Mullins, William, Immigration and Credit in America (March 20, 2025). Kilts Center at Chicago Booth Marketing Data Center Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5187062 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5187062