&gt;Perhaps a better alternative would be a general credit line available to all Americans managed by the CFPB. The credit limit would be rather small, in the low hundreds, but would be higher for citizens with better credit scores.<p>Because people who exhaust their existing credit as if it were free money won&#x27;t exhaust this?  The Vimes problem [1] is well known and yet no one can come up with a systematic way to break the cycle and create a virtuous upward cycle by making the kind of small cheap loan you&#x27;re describing.<p>[1] The oft repeated meme that not being able to afford some long-term-cheaper option because you can&#x27;t front the cash, thus making you even poorer.