A Historical Primer of Consumer Credit Reporting Systems: a Lesson for EU Policy Makers?

This work investigates the cultural framework through the lens of history of consumer credit reporting in the lender-borrower relationship in order to inform European legislators when setting a future legal framework. It provides an historical primer of consumer credit reporting in the US where it first originated and how the system was transplanted in Europe without following that process of legitimisation and legislative procedure that was so crucial over more than 100 years of American history. This brings concerns that European countries need to contend with, especially in view of a future integrated single market in consumer credit in which consumers receive an adequate protection.