ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how similar features of the poverty industry in the United States are rapidly taking hold in Mexico under the ambit of financial inclusion. Poverty levels were exacerbated in the aftermath of the rent-seeking, United States subprime mortgage debacle, which left 30 percent of the country's population below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The methods employed by FICO, which was established by the Fair Issac Corporation in 1965, are used by the three main credit reporting agencies in the United States: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In contrast with the rhetoric of neoliberalism, the experience of market-led restructuring of capitalism in the United States (US) has not operated to the benefit of all. To begin, it is important to note that the democratisation of credit is neither a new concept, nor one that is exclusive to neoliberalism. The democratisation of credit is an integral feature in the social reproduction of the poverty industry.
