Most Japanese consumer lenders, which can charge up to 29.2 percent for loans, offer essentially the same products and services, so competition to attract borrowers is intense.

The American Financial Services Association, which represents the biggest consumer lenders in the country, has already entered the cases in support of the defendants.

In reality however, grace periods are non-compulsory business practices that have been adopted by most consumer lenders.

I am a consumer lender, but a nonaffiliated third party ("Servicer") services my loans.

I am a consumer lender and am affiliated with a property insurer.

But though the lobbyists, public relations gurus and consumer lenders can change the laws, that won't change the underlying economic reality - or pay the bills.

Mr. Overcash had been chief executive of the Associates Corporation, an international business and consumer lender, since 1978.

"Because Security Pacific is owned by a bank they had a four-month charge-off policy, compared with six months for most consumer lenders," he said.

Citigroup, the nation's largest consumer lender, said in late June that it would stop selling the same product, single-premium credit insurance.

In the next decade, Fleet acquired a number of other banks as it sought to become a nationwide consumer lender.