In a market economy that is based on private property and the rule of law, the efficient and effective enforcement of contracts is indispensable. Without the ability to enforce the promises made between individuals and businesses, any form of transaction, especially credit products, would be harder and more expensive, if not impossible.
Services and mechanisms to settle debts, therefore, are a vital (if underappreciated) aspect of a market economy. They are a part of the “plumbing”—the underlying architecture—that makes our modern credit markets possible.