Consumer Credit, Debt and Bankruptcy

Johanna Niemi is Senior Researcher at National Research Institute of Legal Policy, Helsinki, Finland. Iain Ramsay is Professor of Law at Kent Law School, University of Kent at Canterbury. William C Whitford is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

This work provides a ready reckoner on the cause and effects of the global credit crisis and some guidance on how history can perhaps not repeat itself. Anthony Lo Surdo Australian Banking and Finance Bulletin Vol 25 No 6, December 2009/January 2010 It's a good collection of work and is a good entry way into the literature for anyone wanting to think about these issues from a global perspective. Professor Robert M. Lawless Credit Slips October 2009 The book's twenty papers are sharply focused on the topic of comparative and international consumer overindebtedness. The editors chose these papers from thirty presented at the conference. Some are excellent, even read in isolation. Nearly all are very good. Even the few that are neither were included for a reason: they provide the only windows available into the consumer credit and bankruptcy systems of particular countries...Whatever the future may hold, Consumer Credit is now the state of the art in the very lively field of comparative consumer credit and bankruptcy. This book is a necessity for anyone working or interested in that field. Lynn M. LoPucki American Journal of Comparative Law Volume 58, No. 2.

• Introduction Johanna Niemi, Iain Ramsay, William C Whitford I Changing Consumer Credit Markets 1. Inequality and Access to Financial Services Gregory D Squires 2. The Political Economy of Consumer Credit Securitization: Comparing Predatory Lending in Home Finance in the US, UK, Germany and Japan Christopher L Peterson 3. Consumer Overindebtedness in Brazil and the Need for New Consumer Bankruptcy Legislation Claudia Lima-Marques and Antonio Benjamin 4. 'Wannabe WAGS' and 'Credit Binges': The Construction of Overindebtedness in the UK Iain Ramsay II Topics in Consumer Credit Regulation 5. Overindebted Households and Law: Prevention and Rehabilitation in Europe Johanna Niemi 6. 'A Call to Arms'-For Regulation of Consumer Lending Udo Reifner 7. The Political Economy of the EC Consumer Credit Directive Sefa M Franken 8. Disclosure as an Imperfect Means for Addressing Overindebtedness: An Empirical Assessment of Comparative Approaches Susan Block-Lieb, Richard Wiener, Jason A Cantone and Michael Holtje 9. Prevention of Overindebtedness and Mechanisms for Resolving Overindebtedness of South African Consumers Michelle Kelly-Louw 10. The Myth of the Cautious Consumer: Law, Culture, Economics and Politics in the Rise and Partial Fall of Unsecured Lending in Japan Souichirou Kozuka and Luke Nottage III Consumer Overindebtedness and Insolvencies 11. Making Sense of Nation-Level Bankruptcy Filing Rates Ronald J Mann 12. Overindebtedness and Financial Stress : A Comparative Study in Europe Catarina Frade and Claudia Abreu Lopes 13. Bankruptcy in Germany: Filing Rates and the People behind the Numbers Wolfram Backert, Ditmar Brock, Gotz Lechner and Katja Maischatz 14. Elderly Consumer Weakness in 'Withholding Credit' Johannes Doll 15. Two Decades, Three Key Questions, and Evolving Answers in European Consumer Insolvency Law: Responsibility, Discretion, and Sacrifice Jason Kilborn IV Repayment Plans 16. A Law-in-Action Approach to Comparative Study of Repayment Forms of Consumer Bankruptcy Jean Braucher 17. Debt Agreements Down Under John Duns and Rosalind Mason 18. Personal Bankruptcy in Korea Soogeun Oh 19. New Labour: More Debt-The Political Response Michael Green 20. Debt Counselling in the Shadow of the Court: The Dutch Experience Nadja Jungmann and Nick Huls