"Why did America embrace consumer credit over the course of the twentieth century, when most other countries did not? How did American policy makers by the late twentieth century come to believe that more credit would make even poor families better off? This book traces the historical emergence...

The rise of consumer capitalism -- Consumption contested -- The organized consumer -- Consumer risk -- Consumer information -- Standards versus contracts -- Price and quality -- The consumer as citizen.

This article describes the consumer finance sector in the US since World War II. We first define the sector in terms of the functions delivered by firms (payments, savings/investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice.) We provide time series evidence on major trends in consumption,...

This note reviews a variety of shorter-term consumer credit products in the U.S. with an emphasis on the types of products that low and moderate-income consumers use. Included here are the following: credit cards, bank overdraft products, payday lending, personal loans and peer-to-peer lending,...

Kinecta Federal Credit Union has the opportunity to purchase Nix Check Cashing as part of their "blue ocean" strategy to reach the financially underserved and increase credit union membership and deposits. But they face financial as well as reputational risk. Check cashing, payday lending and...