low-to middle-income consumers, and for the proportion of low-to middle-income population living in them. In Peru, audits were conducted in San Juan Lurigancho a town of 1,100,000 near Lima and the regional capitals of Puno and Piura, with populations of 140,000 and 400,000. In Ghana the audits were done in the capital Accra and the regional capitals of Kumasi and Takoradi, with population ranging from half a million to over 4 million people. In each study location, a radius of 1.5 Km was drawn from the business center, and a census of every financial institution inside the circle was conducted. We found a total of 134 distinct institutions across 3 countries. For the purposes of the analysis we differentiate between commercial or “traditional” banks and other financial institutions (retail chain banks, microfinance lenders, credit unions) that tend to target low-income households.

Credit auditors requested a 6 month loan in Mexico and Ghana and a 12 month loan in Peru for a household expenditure, preferably with monthly installments. The expenditures included house repairs, medical expenses and children’s school supplies, among others. Savings auditors were assigned an amount that they wanted to deposit. These amounts were 5,000 Pesos (350 USD) in Mexico, 2,000 Sol (780 USD) in Peru and 500 Cedi (215 USD) in Ghana.<sup>15</sup> Since we wanted to capture all the information and materials that staff would provide to prospective clients up until the signing of the credit contract or opening of savings account, a visit by the auditor was deemed completed when either the institution refused to open the account or grant the loan or when the auditor was asked to sign the contract. While all savings auditors needed only one visit to gather all the information and be offered the chance to open the account, credit auditors needed up to 4 follow-up visits, some at their residence, before they were offered the opportunity to sign the credit contract.<sup>16</sup> Because credit auditors had to reside locally, we could not use professional auditors. Instead, we recruited 76 auditors from low-income households living in the study locations. Auditors were trained by a full-time professional from the survey firm hired in each country.<sup>17</sup> Table 2 reports the characteristics of auditors. There were 38 men and 41 women, with ages ranging from 21 to 55. Education levels were average for the low-income population, ranging from primary to undergraduate education. Credit auditors made 500 visits and a total 435 auditor-branch pairs since multiple visits were needed to complete a loan application process. Savings auditors carried out a total of 399 visits. Institutions that by law cannot take deposits, like SOFOMs in Mexico were included in the list to assess whether they complied with the law.

Credit and savings visits took place between the months of March and June 2012 in Mexico, November and March 2012-13 in Peru, and November and March 2013-14 in Ghana. In a given location, a

> 15 The loan maturities and savings amounts were suggested by the regulators as the modal loan maturity and a typical balance in a savings account. The local currencies were converted to USD using the prevailing exchange rate during the study period. 16 There were on average 1.87 visits in Mexico, 1.31 visits in Peru and 1.04 visits in Ghana.

> 17 While in Peru and Ghana savings auditors were also recruited from the study locations, savings auditors in Mexico were professionals from low-income households employed by the survey firm that trained credit auditors.

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