The principal focus of the paper, however, is a broad review of the literature on the topic of consumer debt to provide a framework for how to assess recent credit trends. In addition, three explanations for credit growth — the democratization of credit, increased convenience use of credit, and increased homeownership — are evaluated in terms of their contribution to overall credit growth. This paper concludes that while these three trends have all played some part in increasing credit outstanding, there are clearly other significant factors contributing to the increase in consumer debt over time.

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