1. The policy of controlling aggregate demand by means of restriction of access to credit. This may simply mean using monetary policy instruments, that is, the quantity of money and interest rates. It may also involve regulation of particular types of lending, for example hire purchase restrictions, exhortations to banks against lending for speculative purposes, or quantitative limits on lending by particular institutions.

2. The system of monetary control adopted in the UK during the 1970s, when banks and other deposit-taking finance houses were required to maintain minimum reserve asset ratios.

3. The systems by which commercial organizations seek to ensure that they get paid in reasonable time for goods and services supplied on credit.