According to Brookings Institution researcher Matt Fellowes, “lower income families tend to pay more for the exact same consumer product than families with higher incomes."
Fellowes explains, "For instance, 4.2 million lower income homeowners that earn less than $30,000 a year pay higher than average prices for their mortgages. About 4.5 million lower income households pay higher than average prices for auto loans. At least 1.6 million lower income adults pay excessive fees for furniture, appliances, and electronics. And, countless more pay high prices for other necessities, such as basic financial services, groceries, and insurance. Together, these extra costs add up to hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars unnecessarily spent by lower income families every year.”
Learn more about poverty and income inequality by taking Learning Life's five-question quiz on these topics: http://letlearninglive.org/quiz/u-s-income-inequality/
For Fellowes' study, go to: http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2006/07/poverty-fellowes
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