ABSTRACT
New Zealand consumers make choices every day about what services and goods to purchase. Some of these choices are arguably poor choices that appear to decrease our welfare. Many of us choose to buy unhealthy foods, not save enough for our retirement, spend money on gambling, purchase large quantities of alcohol, engage in dangerous sporting activities, smoke cigarettes and tan ourselves under sunbeds. The seemingly poor consumer choices that this chapter will focus on are those that relate to credit. Research published in late 2008 showed that many New Zealand consumers make seemingly poor choices about how much to borrow and on what terms.1
