Consumer Vulnerability and Welfare in Mortgage Contracts

The book suggests an alternative way of alleviating consumer over-indebtedness, namely with the rules of contract law.

The need for a new way of thinking derives from the assumption that we currently live in a political economy in which consumer debt is supposed to fulfill a social function. In the field of housing this is evidenced by the expansion of mortgage credit, through which consumers are to purchase residential property as a means of social inclusion and old-age welfare.

It is suggested that contract law needs to adjust to this new social function. To this end, theoretical contract law frameworks are analysed and concrete proposals for contract law are made.