During the recent financial crisis, the Federal Reserve and other
policymakers throughout the government took unprecedented
actions to mitigate the fallout from severely distressed market
conditions and support the flow of credit to consumers and
businesses. Nonetheless, the level of credit outstanding for
households has been very slow to rebound and remains lower
than it was at the onset of the crisis. The reasons for the slow
rebound are, without a doubt, complex and multidimensional.
Still, it is worthwhile to examine the data and try to understand
why credit growth is not more robust.