Consumer Credit in Times of Crisis: New Evidence from Italian Market

The present work aims to analyze the dynamics that have affected the market of consumer credit in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, with particular reference to management policies and commercial solutions adopted by leading operators in Italy. In this regard, we proceeded in the creation of a survey, which we conducted between late 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, through a careful choice of sampling analysis, made as of the preparation and subsequent administration of a specific questionnaire we submitted to a selected sample of Italian credit intermediaries. As expected, among other results, we find that the financial crisis strongly reduced the capability of families to achieve any financing for their purposes, even if significant differences arise from specific characteristics of loans and customers creditworthiness.