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Consumer credit --- Finance, Personal --- Credit ratings --- Consumer debt --- Credit

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Credit and debt appear to be natural, permanent facets of Americans' lives, but a debt-based economy and debt-financed lifestyles are actually recent inventions. In 1951 Diners Club issued a plastic card that enabled patrons to pay for their meals at select New York City restaurants at the end of each month. Soon other "charge cards" (as they were then known) offered the convenience for travelers throughout the United States to pay for hotels, food, and entertainment on credit. In the 1970's the advent of computers and the deregulation of banking created an explosion in credit card use-and consumer debt. With gigantic national banks and computer systems that allowed variable interest rates, consumer screening, mass mailings, and methods to discipline slow payers with penalties and fees, middle-class Americans experienced a sea change in their lives. Given the enormous profits from issuing credit, banks and chain stores used aggressive marketing to reach Americans experiencing such crises as divorce or unemployment, to help them make ends meet or to persuade them that they could live beyond their means. After banks exhausted the profits from this group of people, they moved into the market for college credit cards and student loans and then into predatory lending (through check-cashing stores and pawnshops) to the poor. In 2003, Americans owed nearly

Consumer credit --- Debt --- Consumer debt --- Credit --- Anthropology. --- Business. --- Economics. --- Folklore. --- Linguistics. --- Political Science. --- Public Policy.

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Academic research and policy discussions of credit markets usually focus on borrowing by firms and producers rather than by households, which are typically analyzed in terms of their savings and portfolio choices. The Economics of Consumer Credit brings together leading international researchers to focus specifically on consumer debt, presenting current empirical and theoretical research crucial to ongoing policy debates on such topics as privacy rules, the regulation of contractual responsibilities, financial stability, and overindebtedness.The rapidly developing consumer credit industry in the United States is mirrored by that in Europe, and this volume is noteworthy for its cross-national perspective. Several chapters compare the use of credit markets by households in different countries, while others focus on single country case studies--including consumer credit dynamics in Italy, the role of housing expenditure in the cyclical pattern of borrowing in the United Kingdom, and the use of credit cards by U.S. consumers--to illustrate general insights. Other chapters draw policy lessons from the U.S. experience with bankruptcy regulation and the development of the credit counseling industry. Finally, the book reviews historical, theoretical, and empirical aspects of information sharing, of particular interest in light of the integration of European Union credit markets.ContributorsCarol C. Bertaut, Giuseppe Bertola, Sarah Bridges, Luca Casolaro, Jonathan Crook, Richard Disney, Leonardo Gambacorta, Charles Grant, Luigi Guiso, Michael Haliassos, Andrew Henley, Robert M. Hunt, Tullio Jappelli, Nicola Jentzsch, Marco Pagano, Amparo San Jose Riestra, Michael Staten, Michelle J. White

Consumer credit --- Consumer credit. --- Finance --- Business & Economics --- Credit, Debt & Loans --- 332.743 --- Consumer debt --- Credit --- ECONOMICS/Microeconomics --- ECONOMICS/Finance

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Crédit --- Contrats --- Prêts bancaires --- Crédit à la consommation --- Etablissements de crédit --- Prêts commerciaux --- Droit --- Banking law --- Commercial law --- Consumer credit --- Consumer debt --- Credit --- Établissements de crédit --- Prêts commerciaux.

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Personal debt remains an important factor in many economic models because it encourages people to use debt to finance consumption. Whether this model is sustainable for individuals or the countries in which they reside is an ongoing question of great complexity and many social and economic implications, not only for the burdened individuals and their countries, but also for the EU as a whole. In Personal Debt in Europe, Federico Ferretti and Daniela Vandone examine the 'dark side' of personal debt, or over-indebtedness, in social and economic terms. They employ cross-country consumer-level data to present the latest empirical studies on the problem, analyse these findings to better understand its nature and causes, and discuss the merits of proposed insolvency legislation and harmonisation initiatives in the EU.

Consumer credit --- Loans, Personal --- Debt --- Consumer debt --- Credit --- Indebtedness --- Finance --- Consumer loans --- Loans, Consumer --- Loans, Small --- Personal loans --- Small loans --- Loans --- Law and legislation