Consumer debt: Myth of thrift

Article Abstract:

Critics deplore that America has lost its capacity for thrift as compared to earlier years when they were cash-and-carry customers, but according to historian Lendol Calder, that notion is a myth. He argues that even in the earlier years debt was a heavy burden for pilgrims, planters and farmers, and by the 1890s, the common source of credit for the working- and middle-class Americans were pawnbrokers and moneylenders who charged exorbitant interest rates.

Analysis, History, United States economic conditions

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Consumer debt: Rise of mortgage lending

Article Abstract:

The U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which made mortgages more appealing to borrowers by self-amortizing, low down payments and long-term maturity of twenty years or more. With the advent of sophisticated computer programs using credit scoring to assess the risk of borrowers, lenders were able to make mortgages available to more Americans, and tailored to individual homebuyers.

Forecasts, trends, outlooks, Mortgages, Forecasts and trends, Market trend/market analysis

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Consumer debt: Payday lending comes under fire

Article Abstract:

Payday lenders are regulated by the states with usury caps on interest rates between 24 to 48 percent, which effectively prohibits payday lending and its triple digit interest rates. Although 37 states have exempted payday lending from the usury restrictions, consumer advocates would like the exemptions repealed.

Legal issues & crime, Government regulation (cont), Government regulation, Commodity & service prices, Legal/Government Regulation, Laws, regulations and rules, Prices and rates, Company pricing policy

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