Edited by Jodi Gardner, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Mia Gray, Senior University Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow at Girton College and Katharina Moser, Lecturer, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK

‘The book is brilliant for illuminating the crush and bind of debt for low-income individuals in otherwise high-income British society since the advent of post-2008 austerity. Far from a unique and cloistered experience of the unlucky or undeserving, the book makes clear how gripping debt will remain without a range of urgently needed policy changes. These chapters will be indispensable reading for students, scholars, civil society, and, one desperately hopes, policy makers.’

• Contents:Foreword xvAcknowledgements xviiiPART I NATURE OF THE PROBLEM1 Understanding low-income debt in a high-income country 2Mia Gray, Katharina Möser and Jodi Gardner2 Mortgage debt in an age of austerity 30Susan J. Smith3 Debt begets debt: public and private debt in austerity Britain 46Mia Gray4 Austerity and financial safety nets: bankruptcy abuse prevention and bank protection in Irish post-crisis policy? 69Joseph Spooner5 The changing infrastructure of debt relief: privatisation,bureaucracy and public choice 94Katharina Möser6 ‘I just felt responsible for my debts’: debt stigma and class(ificatory) exploitation 125Matthew Sparkes7 Austere social reproduction and the gendered geographies of debt 151Sam StrongPART II NATURE OF THE SOLUTION8 The poverty premium and debt 175Sara Davies and Andrea Finney9 High-cost credit in the UK: what’s the problem and howshould policy respond? 194Karen Rowlingson10 The rise and rise of affordability complaints 219Sara Williams11 Consumer debt problems and the image of the consumer inSwedish consumer credit regulation 240Ann-Sofie Henrikson12 Partnering to address financial exclusion in Australia 260Jordan Grace13 Relief from austerity: the case for a targeted write-off of theUK’s household debt stock 280Johnna Montgomerie14 Austerity, inequality and high-cost credit: understanding therole of a social minimum 299Jodi GardnerIndex

Edited by Jodi Gardner, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Mia Gray, Senior University Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow at Girton College and Katharina Moser, Lecturer, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK

‘The book is brilliant for illuminating the crush and bind of debt for low-income individuals in otherwise high-income British society since the advent of post-2008 austerity. Far from a unique and cloistered experience of the unlucky or undeserving, the book makes clear how gripping debt will remain without a range of urgently needed policy changes. These chapters will be indispensable reading for students, scholars, civil society, and, one desperately hopes, policy makers.’

• Contents:Foreword xvAcknowledgements xviiiPART I NATURE OF THE PROBLEM1 Understanding low-income debt in a high-income country 2Mia Gray, Katharina Möser and Jodi Gardner2 Mortgage debt in an age of austerity 30Susan J. Smith3 Debt begets debt: public and private debt in austerity Britain 46Mia Gray4 Austerity and financial safety nets: bankruptcy abuse prevention and bank protection in Irish post-crisis policy? 69Joseph Spooner5 The changing infrastructure of debt relief: privatisation,bureaucracy and public choice 94Katharina Möser6 ‘I just felt responsible for my debts’: debt stigma and class(ificatory) exploitation 125Matthew Sparkes7 Austere social reproduction and the gendered geographies of debt 151Sam StrongPART II NATURE OF THE SOLUTION8 The poverty premium and debt 175Sara Davies and Andrea Finney9 High-cost credit in the UK: what’s the problem and howshould policy respond? 194Karen Rowlingson10 The rise and rise of affordability complaints 219Sara Williams11 Consumer debt problems and the image of the consumer inSwedish consumer credit regulation 240Ann-Sofie Henrikson12 Partnering to address financial exclusion in Australia 260Jordan Grace13 Relief from austerity: the case for a targeted write-off of theUK’s household debt stock 280Johnna Montgomerie14 Austerity, inequality and high-cost credit: understanding therole of a social minimum 299Jodi GardnerIndex

Edited by Jodi Gardner, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Mia Gray, Senior University Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge and Fellow at Girton College and Katharina Moser, Lecturer, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK

‘The book is brilliant for illuminating the crush and bind of debt for low-income individuals in otherwise high-income British society since the advent of post-2008 austerity. Far from a unique and cloistered experience of the unlucky or undeserving, the book makes clear how gripping debt will remain without a range of urgently needed policy changes. These chapters will be indispensable reading for students, scholars, civil society, and, one desperately hopes, policy makers.’

• Contents:Foreword xvAcknowledgements xviiiPART I NATURE OF THE PROBLEM1 Understanding low-income debt in a high-income country 2Mia Gray, Katharina Möser and Jodi Gardner2 Mortgage debt in an age of austerity 30Susan J. Smith3 Debt begets debt: public and private debt in austerity Britain 46Mia Gray4 Austerity and financial safety nets: bankruptcy abuse prevention and bank protection in Irish post-crisis policy? 69Joseph Spooner5 The changing infrastructure of debt relief: privatisation,bureaucracy and public choice 94Katharina Möser6 ‘I just felt responsible for my debts’: debt stigma and class(ificatory) exploitation 125Matthew Sparkes7 Austere social reproduction and the gendered geographies of debt 151Sam StrongPART II NATURE OF THE SOLUTION8 The poverty premium and debt 175Sara Davies and Andrea Finney9 High-cost credit in the UK: what’s the problem and howshould policy respond? 194Karen Rowlingson10 The rise and rise of affordability complaints 219Sara Williams11 Consumer debt problems and the image of the consumer inSwedish consumer credit regulation 240Ann-Sofie Henrikson12 Partnering to address financial exclusion in Australia 260Jordan Grace13 Relief from austerity: the case for a targeted write-off of theUK’s household debt stock 280Johnna Montgomerie14 Austerity, inequality and high-cost credit: understanding therole of a social minimum 299Jodi GardnerIndex