"This book proposes a new way of thinking about the controversial and complex challenges associated with the regulation of high-cost credit, specifically payday lending. These products have received significant attention in both the media and political arena. The inadequacy of regulatory interventions has created ongoing problems with the provision of high-cost credit, particularly for consumers with lesser bargaining power and who are already financially vulnerable. The book tackles two specific gaps in the existing literature. The first involves inadequate analysis of the relevant philosophical concepts around high-cost credit, which can result in an over-simplification of what are particularly complex issues. The second is a lack of engagement in both the market and lived experience of borrowers, resulting in limited understanding of those who use these financial products. The Future of High-Cost Credit explores the theoretical grounding, policy initiatives and interdisciplinary perspectives associated with high-cost credit, making a novel and insightful contribution to the existing literature. The problems with debt extend far beyond the legal sphere, and the book will therefore be of interest to many other academic disciplines, as well as for those working in public policy and 'the third sector'."--

Taming the Sharks: Towards a Cure for the High Cost Credit Market chronicles the historic, economic. legal, and political factors breeding America's feverish high cost debt industry. The ideas presented are novel, progressive, and controversial. Historians have long argued that interest rates provide a sort of economic and political health of nations. If true, the contemporary American market for credit shows troubling signs of distress. While Federal Reserve Board monetary policy has kept commercial and prime consumer interest rates low, the past two decades have seen explosive growth in an industry specializing in high-cost consumer debt. Payday loan outlet chains, automobile title loan companies, rent-to-own furniture stores, pawnshops, and sub-prime and manufactured home mortgage lenders are transforming the personal finance patterns of millions of Americans. Many observers have complained this industry charges excessive prices, uses unfair business practices, and is generally causing more harm for its borrowers than good. Industry insiders retort they are merely responding to a legitimate demand for financial services that, in effect, consumers vote with their feet. Echoing problems of past centuries, today's consumers face difficulty comparing credit prices, patterns of reckless lending and borrowing, as well as distressing economic externalities. With an idea on the future, Peterson's book hopes to find ingredients of a compromise to protect working-poor borrowers while simultaneously preserving economic competition.

This book proposes a new way of thinking about the controversial and complex challenges associated with the regulation of high-cost credit, specifically payday lending. These products have received significant attention in both the media and political arena. The inadequacy of regulatory interventions has created ongoing problems with the provision of high-cost credit, particularly for consumers with lesser bargaining power and who are already financially vulnerable. The book tackles two specific gaps in the existing literature. The first involves inadequate analysis of the relevant philosophical concepts around high-cost credit, which can result in an over-simplification of what are particularly complex issues. The second is a lack of engagement in both the market and lived experience of borrowers, resulting in limited understanding of those who use these financial products. The Future of High-Cost Credit explores the theoretical grounding, policy initiatives and interdisciplinary perspectives associated with high-cost credit, making a novel and insightful contribution to the existing literature. The problems with debt extend far beyond the legal sphere, and the book will therefore be of interest to many other academic disciplines, as well as for those working in public policy and 'the third sector'.

Consumer Credit and the American Economy examines the economics, behavioral science, sociology, history, institutions, law, and regulation of consumer credit in the United States. After discussing the origins and various kinds of consumer credit available in today's marketplace, this book reviews at some length the long run growth of consumer credit to explore the widely held belief that somehow consumer credit has risen "too fast for too long." It then turns to demand and supply with chapters discussing neoclassical theories of demand, new behavioral economics, and evidence on production costs and why consumer credit might seem expensive compared to some other kinds of credit like government finance. This discussion includes review of the economics of risk management and funding sources, as well discussion of the economic theory of why some people might be limited in their credit search, the phenomenon of credit rationing. This examination includes review of issues of risk management through mathematical methods of borrower screening known as credit scoring and financial market sources of funding for offerings of consumer credit. The book then discusses technological change in credit granting. It examines how modern automated information systems called credit reporting agencies, or more popularly "credit bureaus," reduce the costs of information acquisition and permit greater credit availability at less cost. This discussion is followed by examination of the logical offspring of technology, the ubiquitous credit card that permits consumers access to both payments and credit services worldwide virtually instantly. After a chapter on institutions that have arisen to supply credit to individuals for whom mainstream credit is often unavailable, including "payday loans" and other small dollar sources of loans, discussion turns to legal structure and the regulation of consumer credit. There are separate chapters on the theories behind the two main thrusts of federal regulation to this point, fairness for all and financial disclosure. Following these chapters, there is another on state regulation that has long focused on marketplace access and pricing. Before a final concluding chapter, another chapter focuses on two noncredit marketplace products that are closely related to credit. The first of them, debt protection including credit insurance and other forms of credit protection, is economically a complement. The second product, consumer leasing, is a substitute for credit use in many situations, especially involving acquisition of automobiles. This chapter is followed by a full review of consumer bankruptcy, what happens in the worst of cases when consumers find themselves unable to repay their loans. Because of the importance of consumer credit in consumers' financial affairs, the intended audience includes anyone interested in these issues, not only specialists who spend much of their time focused on them. For this reason, the authors have carefully avoided academic jargon and the mathematics that is the modern language of economics. It also examines the psychological, sociological, historical, and especially legal traditions that go into fully understanding what has led to the demand for consumer credit and to what the markets and institutions that provide these products have become today.

A Brookings Institution Press and Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies publication The recent collapse of the mortgage market revealed fractures in the credit market that have deep roots in the system's structure, conduct, and regulation. The time has come for a clear-eyed assessment of what happened and how the system should be strengthened and restructured. Such reform will have a profound and lasting impact on the capacity of Americans to use credit to build assets and finance consumption. Moving Forward explores what caused the crisis and, more important, focuses on the path ahead. The challenge remains the same as ever: protect consumers, ensure fairness, and guarantee soundness of the financial system without stifling innovation and overly restricting access to credit and consumer choice. Nicolas Retsinas, Eric Belsky, and their colleagues aim to stimulate debate based on analysis of the opportunities and challenges presented by the various components of global capital markets: financial engineering, risk assessment and management, specialization of financial intermediation, and marketing methods. The contributors—leaders in business, government, academia, and the nonprofit sector—discuss new research and ideas about the future of credit markets, including how improvements might be shaped by industry leaders. Contributors: John Y. Campbell, Harvard University; Marsha J. Courchane, Charles River Associates; Ren Essene, Federal Reserve Board; Allen Fishbein, Federal Reserve Board; Howell E. Jackson, Harvard Law School; Melissa Koide, Center for Financial Services Innovation; Michael Lea, San Diego State University; Eugene Ludwig, Promontory Financial Group; Brigitte C. Madrian, Harvard Kennedy School; Nela Richardson, Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University; Rachel Schneider, Center for Financial Services Innovation; Peter Tufano, Harvard Business School; Peter M. Zorn, Freddie Mac