What does a lender look like… on the inside?

In theory, the mechanics of consumer credit are simple: you borrow a large sum of money at a low-interest rate, break it into smaller parcels, and then lend those out with interest rates set high enough to allow the gains made on the repaid loans to cover the losses you made on defaulted ones, plus the admin costs involved in keeping it all together.

In practice, of course, that is easier said than done.