Consumers are more likely to keep a repayment promise they make themselves. When a scheduling conflict prevents a borrower from attending a mortgage closing, a power of attorney (POA) empowers a third party to promise that the borrower will repay the loan. On a matched sample of POA and non-POA loans, and comparing within borrower and within property, I link POAs to greater delinquency and foreclosure. Although POAs are uncorrelated with cash flow shocks, they reflect reduced promise keeping when borrowers undergo financial distress. This association vanishes for originator-servicers’ loans, which suggests that financial intermediation plays a role in consumer lending.

中文翻译：

---

我承诺付款

消费者更有可能信守自己做出的还款承诺。当安排冲突导致借款人无法参加抵押贷款结清时，授权书（POA）会授权第三方承诺借款人将偿还贷款。在匹配的POA和非POA贷款样本中，并在借款人和财产内部进行比较，我将POA与更大的拖欠和止赎联系起来。尽管POA与现金流量冲击无关，但它们反映出借款人遭受财务危机时，其兑现的承诺减少了。该协会对于发起者-服务者的贷款消失了，这表明金融中介在消费者贷款中发挥了作用。