Responsible credit is a policy much discussed by legislators and stakeholders, especially in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. Creditworthiness and âResponsible Creditâ questions how this policy currently finds implementation in EU and US law and the principal instruments used for this scope, including the duty of creditworthiness assessment of borrowers. Noah Vardi analyzes the fundamental and often overlooked notion of âcreditworthinessâ from a comparative perspective and examines the critical interaction between policies of access to credit, financial inclusion, and responsible lending.
Noah Vardi, Ph.D. (2005), University of Verona, is Associate Professor of Comparative Law at the Roma Tre University. Her research focuses on European private law, financial markets, banking and payment systems, and the law of money and cryptocurrencies. Her publications include the monograph The Integration of European Financial Markets: The Regulation of Monetary Obligations (Routledge, 2010).
AcknowledgmentsI
1 Introduction: Creditworthiness and âResponsible Creditâ
âIntroduction
â1.1âDefining âResponsible Creditâ
â1.2âResponsible Credit and the Global Financial Crisis
â1.3âProfiles of Relevance of Responsible Credit
â1.4âCreditworthiness
â1.5âCaution and Criticisms
â1.6âMethodology
â1.7âStructure of the Book
2 Creditworthiness Assessment as a Macroprudential Duty
âIntroduction
â2.1âResponsible Credit as a Macroprudential Duty: The Duty of Creditworthiness Assessment in Banking Regulation
â2.2âCredit Assessments and Credit Rating
â2.3âA Few Final Observations: Inferences from the Comparison of Regulatory Choices and Issues Surrounding a Hypothetical âRight to a Creditworthiness Assessmentâ
3 Creditworthiness for Individuals: Methodologies and Legal Issues
âIntroduction
â3.1âCreditworthiness Assessment and Credit Reporting
â3.2âData Protection and Antidiscrimination: Comparative Legal Issues
â3.3âSmall Business Lending and Credit Scoring
â3.4âComparative Overview and Conclusive Remarks on Credit Scoring and Responsible Lending
4 Creditworthiness Assessment and Other Contractual Duties as Tools of âResponsible Creditâ: the Case of Consumer Loans
âIntroduction
â4.1âCreditworthiness Assessment in Consumer Credit Contracts and Mortgage Loan Contracts
â4.2âEffects of the âResponsible Lendingâ Provisions on Contract Law
â4.3âInstruments for the Enforcement of âResponsible Creditâ Provisions
â4.4âA Few Conclusive Comparative Remarks
5 Access to Credit and Responsible Lending
âIntroduction
â5.1âThe âDemocratization of Creditâ
â5.2âAccess to Credit as a Policy for Consumers and the Problem of Financial Exclusion
â5.3âAccess to Credit as a Right? Theorizing âDue Processâ in Access to Credit
â5.4âAccess to Credit and the Right to Housing
â5.5âResponsible Credit as a Protective Duty and a Tool for Inclusion
Bibliography
The book is a research monograph, whose primary audience is the international academic market; however the book may be of interest also to finance specialists and bankers; and can be used for courses or seminars at a graduate level in any the following topics: banking law, consumer contracts, big data/algorithmic decision making, private comparative law.