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"Preface" [2019] ELECD 2497; in Brown, Sarah (ed), "The Regulation of Consumer Credit" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) vi

Book Title: The Regulation of Consumer Credit

Editor(s): Brown, Sarah

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Preface

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Preface
The reasons for writing this book are twofold. The first is a long held interest
in the consumer credit relationship, protection of the credit consumer and
the approach to this most important of consumer/commercial relationships.
Consumer credit can be enabling for the individual as well as a means of
support. It is vital to the economy and a vibrant consumer credit market has
a positive macroeconomic effect. Yet if ill managed, whether from a market,
creditor or borrower perspective, it can cause (potentially severe) consumer
detriment. It therefore provides interesting dilemmas in terms of how it should
be controlled and the placing of consumer protection. The second is a long held
interest in the development of credit culture and control not only in the United
Kingdom but also in the United States. Our cultures in many respects have
common roots, and the law is no exception, although since the Declaration of
Independence American law has evolved in ways that diverge from the English
model, with a written constitution and federal structure.
Writing this book has allowed me to develop my arguments in relation
to consumer credit, in a new context. Credit of course attracts discussion at
many levels. It is inevitably linked to debt and personal bankruptcy. Important
questions of social justice, social welfare and redistribution of wealth are also
relevant. However, while these are touched upon throughout the book, the
emphasis here is to concentrate on regulatory perspectives in place across the
Atlantic that deal with the ...