Consumer finance in the most basic sense of the word refers to any kind of lending to consumers. However, in the United States financial services industry, the term "consumer finance" often refers to a particular type of business, sub prime branch lending (that is lending to people with less than perfect credit). This branch of the financial services industry is more extensive in the United States than in some other countries, because the major b...
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Consumer finance in the most basic sense of the word refers to any kind of lending to consumers. However, in the United States financial services industry, the term "consumer finance" often refers to a particular type of business, sub prime branch lending (that is lending to people with less than perfect credit). This branch of the financial services industry is more extensive in the United States than in some other countries, because the major banks in the U.S. are less willing to lend to people with marginal credit ratings than their counterparts in many other countries. Examples of these companies include American General Finance, Inc.,Duvera Financial, Inc., Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., HSBC Finance, CIT, CitiFinancial, and Wells Fargo Financial.
The Consumer Finance industry (meaning branch-based subprime lenders) mainly came to fruition in the middle of the twentieth century. At that time, these companies were all stand-alone companies not owned by banks and an alternative...
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