Sending Out an SMS: Automatic Enrollment Experiments for Overdraft Alerts

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Finance
Year: 2025
Volume: 80
Issue: 1
Pages: 467-514

Authors (5)

MICHAEL D. GRUBB (Boston College) DARRAGH KELLY (not in RePEc) JEROEN NIEBOER (not in RePEc) MATTHEW OSBORNE (Bank of England) JONATHAN SHAW (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.804 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

At‐scale field experiments at major U.K. banks show that automatic enrollment into “just‐in‐time” text alerts reduces unarranged overdraft and unpaid item charges 17% to 19% and arranged overdraft charges 4% to 8%, implying annual market‐wide savings of £170 million to £240 million. Incremental benefits from “early‐warning” alerts are statistically insignificant, although economically significant effects are not ruled out. Prior to the experiments, over half of overdrafts could have been avoided by using lower‐cost liquidity available in savings and credit card accounts. Alerts help consumers achieve less than half of these potential savings.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:jfinan:v:80:y:2025:i:1:p:467-514
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-25