This book provides detailed explanation of the methods used by financial services organizations to manage their consumer credit portfolios for products such as credit cards, personal loans and retail credit agreements. It describes how credit-granting institutions operate and discusses the relationship between the strategic objectives set by senior management and the operational strategies employed by credit professionals working at the coal face of credit provision. Topics covered include organizational structures, marketing, customer acquisition, credit scoring, customer management, collections, debt recovery, legal and ethical issues, provision and capital requirements under BASEL II.  Written from an international perspective it provides a unique insight into the world of credit management, combining both academic and practitioner viewpoints. Complex topics are described in an easy to understand way, with technical language kept to a minimum, making specialist topics, such as credit scoring and BASEL II, readily accessible to the general reader.