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Borrowing from the Future: 401(k) Plan Loans and Loan Defaults

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

"Our administrative dataset tracks several hundred plans over 5 years, showing that 20% borrow at any given time, and almost 40% do at some point over five years. Employer policies influence borrowing behavior, in that workers are more likely to borrow and borrow more in aggregate, when a plan permits multiple loans. We estimate loan default 'leakage' at $6 billion annually, more than prior studies."

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