Abstract
By the 1970s, financial regulation sought a supportive role for enhanced market efficiency and improved competition between lenders. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 devised a uniform set of rules allowing lenders to issue a variety of credit products across the full spectrum of borrowers. Small loans were no exception. For the first time in British history, moneylending and pawnbroking were legitimized. One cannot be a fringe provider if the fringe does not exist in the first place. Encouraging competition between providers contrasts with previous efforts of restricting the small-loan ‘evil’. Small lenders could advertise freely and charge market pricing. Parliament was unwilling to regulate small loans. Credit access and a well-functioning market override social policy concerns on behalf of the few who might suffer from credit use.
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McMahon, C. (2021). Legitimate Bankers: Pawnbrokers and Moneylenders Join the Premier League. In: Taming the Fringe. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70615-9_4
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