It's almost impossible to know what to believe anymore.
Here is what I can gather from a consumer credit perspective.
If the bailout does not pass:
To get a 30 year fixed mortgage, you will have to have good credit and put down 20%. The horror.
Jumbo loans will be hard to get. (of course, if housing prices are allowed to correct to where they should be, far fewer people will need them).
Subprime loans will be almost impossible. (Yes, part of the reason we need the bbailout is to crank up the subprime market again).
About car loans. You will need to have good credit. Someone actually said that if you have a bad credit history, you will be unable to receive zero down, low rate car loans unless this passes. The actual example was that someone with a credit default in their recent history would not be able to secure a loan to buy a car. WTF?
The more I hear, the more I am convinced that, as far as the consumer lending market goes, this is just an attempt to restart the party that lead us into this mess.
Now, the commerical credit markets may be a completely different story. And there seem to be things going on that people don't want to talk about for fear of igniting panic. I have no idea about those things. But this "consumer credit crisis" seems to be a scare tactic.