Each year, millions of financially distressed consumers in the U.S. face a difficult choice among the debt relief … reconsideration of the regulatory structure of the debt relief industry. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance for … debt relief providers and policymakers to evaluate the efficacy of workout options and to develop a deeper understanding of …

bankruptcy protection, creditors can collect on defaulted debt to the extent permitted by wage garnishment laws. The elimination … lowers the default premium on unsecured debt and permits low-net-worth individuals suffering bad earnings shocks to smooth … consumption by borrowing. There is a large increase in consumer debt financed essentially by super-wealthy individuals, a modest …

resources to debt collection. We develop a new theory of credit card lending that takes these two features into account. The two …

The causes and ramifications of the rise in the consumer debt burden over time have been subject to much debate. This … paper first offers a brief overview and analysis of the key economic variables used to evaluate consumer debt levels. The … principal focus of the paper, however, is a broad review of the literature on the topic of consumer debt to provide a framework …