This article explores the implications of the link between personality traits most likely to impact small loan regulation effectiveness, and the types of small loan regulation currently in place in Australia. Those personality characteristics of small loan borrowers likely to be most relevant to borrower behaviour are optimism, risk tolerance, and self-control. Other characteristics which can impact on debt behaviour are financial literacy (itself a form of regulation but also a characteristic which can impact on the effectiveness of a regulatory strategy such as disclosure), and irrational behaviour. In this article we consider the possible impacts of such traits and behaviours on the effectiveness of the three regulatory types. It is suggested that empirical research should be conducted to ascertain the dominance of these traits and characteristics amongst small loans and enterprise borrowers, in order to inform regulatory developments.