Crédit Mobilier (officially the Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier, or General Society of Home Credit) was a French banking company created by the Pereire brothers, and one of the most important financial institutions of the world during the mid-19th century. It had a major role in the financing of numerous railroads and other infrastructure projects by mobilizing the savings of middle class French investors as capital for vast lending schemes. The Crédit Mobilier investments created vast debts for the countries which accepted these infrastructure loans and was thus indirectly involved in the European occupations of the countries whose governments defaulted on these loans during the worldwide economic depression of the 1870s.