Call for all lenders to be equally supervised under Consumer Credits Directive

ESBG also calls for keeping the 200 EUR threshold for the lower limit of the scope, as a smaller amount would incur high processing costs disproportionate to the return (and the same can be said for short-term loans of less than three months).

The Commission announced the draft text of the proposal on 30 June. The previous Consumer Credit Directive (CCD), dating from 2008, does not consider recent developments which have a wide impact on credit loans, such as digitalisation. It also overlaps with other legislative texts which have since been updated. These changes should be reflected in the CCD text.

On the required information, ESBG members welcome the Commission’s proposal to provide consumers with simplified, streamlined pre-contractual information. They are concerned, however, that the newly proposed one-pager (SECCO) might actually be in addition to the existing SECCI. If so, this would go against the goal of reducing the information overload on the consumer. As a solution, ESBG believes that the SECCO should be an alternative to the SECCI, and not an addition. We also call on the Commission to embrace digitalisation by allowing information to be provided via a computer or tablet, and not interpret ‘durable medium’ to mean strictly printed paper.

In addition, regarding the creditworthiness assessment, ESBG considers that it should be proportional to the type of credit. The creditworthiness assessment should not be the same, for example, for short-term overdrafts and a considerable loan. In the case of payment in few instalments, the consultation of a database of unpaid credits could be sufficient to grant credits of small amounts and of a duration of less than three months, and this consultation should become compulsory.