logoalt Hacker News

rgloveryesterday at 1:32 PM8 repliesview on HN

Misleading title*

> The default rate among U.S. corporate borrowers of private credit rose to a record 9.2% in 2025

Emphasis added. Headline makes it sound like retail credit, not corporate specifically.

*Edit: Not misleading, just an unfamiliar term/usage from my perspective. I'm not a finance guy so didn't know the difference and assumed others wouldn't either. Mea culpa.


Replies

kentonvyesterday at 1:58 PM

TBH "private credit" (meaning exactly what this article is talking about) is such a big thing in the finance industry that probably most finance industry people can't even fathom that the title is misleading to non-finance-industry people.

I'm not saying they are right. But it's like if you posted an article called "Python Is Eating the World" on a non-tech side and people got mad because they thought the article was about a wildlife emergency. Fair for them to be confused, but maybe not fair to accuse the title of being misleading (at least not intentionally).

show 2 replies
JumpCrisscrossyesterday at 1:39 PM

> Headline makes it sound like retail credit

I’m coming at this loaded with jargon, so excuse my blind spot, but why would the term private credit bring to mind anything to do with retail specifically?

(The term private credit in American—and, I believe, European—finance refers to “debt financing provided by non-bank lenders directly to companies or projects through privately negotiated agreements” [1].)

[1] https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/capital_mark...

show 5 replies
Mattwmaster58yesterday at 1:39 PM

That's exactly where my mind went as soon as I read the title. HN rules say to "use the original title, unless it is misleading". I think the original title meets the misleading bar but I can't speak for other readers.

show 4 replies
airstrikeyesterday at 1:37 PM

FWIW when I read "private credit" I think of private issuers, not retail.

lxgryesterday at 1:54 PM

Private as in private (i.e. non-public) corporation, not as in individual/retail/natural person borrowers.

OJFordyesterday at 2:05 PM

Has the title been changed already? It currently says 'private credit', I don't see how that misleadingly sounds like 'retail credit'?

quentindanjouyesterday at 1:51 PM

Thanks, I completely miss-read it thinking that it was about retail credit. facepalm. Time for coffee.