Contact:
Clayton Berry
Phone: 314.977.7117
berrycl@slu.edu

December 7, 2004

ST. LOUIS -- Every 15 seconds someone in the United States goes bankrupt, and the average American household carries more than $8,000 in credit card debt. With the Christmas shopping season in full swing, millions of Americans may find themselves climbing even further into the red.

Prominent and nationally recognized legal scholars, economists and consumer advocates will examine the lending explosion during a two-day conference this week at the Saint Louis University School of Law.

“Consumer Lending Revolution Conference” will be held 8:45 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8 and 9 a.m.-noon Thursday, Dec. 9, in Busch Student Center, 20 N. Grand Blvd.

During the conference, scholars and experts from around the country will discuss the social and economic effects of this spiraling debt, which is at its worst since the 1980s. They’ll also search for answers to this crisis. The sessions will explore what consumer groups can do to lessen the damaging fallout of this revolution and how it affects bankruptcy policy.

These top experts will be available for media interviews to discuss this problem and offer consumers tips as they head into the home stretch of the Christmas shopping season and comb through the catalogs and credit card applications piling up on their kitchen tables.

Among the leading experts available are:

• Robert D. Manning, author of Credit Card Nation and professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. Manning also will deliver the keynote address.
• George Ritzer, author of Expressing America and the McDonaldization of Society and professor of sociology at University of Maryland
• Teresa Sullivan, author of The Fragile Middle Class and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs of the University of Texas System
• Richard Brown, chief economist at the FDIC
• William Emmons, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Karen Gross, author of Failure and Forgiveness and professor at New York Law School

To arrange phone or in-person interviews with any of these experts, call Clayton Berry in media relations at (314) 977-7117. Members of the media are welcome to attend their sessions.

Facts about the consumer-lending crisis:

• The personal savings rate fell to a nearly record low in October, when American households saved two-tenths of 1 percent of their disposable income. The rate implies that a family with take-home pay of $40,000 saves on average $1.50 a week. (U.S. Department of Commerce)
• Personal bankruptcy filings continue to climb to new highs, with more than 1.4 million last year. (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; U.S. Census Bureau)
• Annual credit card solicitations quintupled between 1990 and 2001. (Synovate Mail Monitor ® )
• There were more than 4 billion credit card mailings in 2003 alone. (Synovate)