Before consumers enter into a loan, they need to understand its real cost and
take the time to reflect, especially on the monthly repayment. The Consumer Credit
Directive lists the information that need to be given in advertising of credits
and as part of credit offers and provides for a 14 days reflexion time, during
which the consumer may back out of the agreement without charge. Following a crackdown
on websites offering consumer credits, more than 3 out of 4 sites checked a year
ago now comply with EU law (compared with only 30% in September 2011). Further
improvements should come as national authorities pursue their actions on outstanding
cases. In this EU co-ordinated "Sweep" investigation, which took place in September
2011, national enforcement authorities checked 565 websites across the 27 Member
States, Norway and Iceland. Of the 70% of sites flagged for further investigation
at the time, 10% were finally deemed compliant and 35% were corrected after action
by national authorities. The remaining websites either no longer exist or are
subject to on-going administrative or court proceedings.
Background:
A "sweep" is an exercise to enforce EU law. It is led by the EU and carried out by national
enforcement authorities who conduct simultaneous, coordinated checks for breaches
in consumer law in a particular sector. The national enforcement authorities then
contact operators about suspected irregularities and ask them to take corrective
action. The Consumer Credit sweep took place in September 2011.
The market under scrutiny is used by consumers every day. In 2010, financial
institutions in the eurozone had more than €600 billion outstanding consumer credit.[1]
Results
Of the 565 websites checked in 2011, 30% passed the test for compliance with the relevant EU consumer
rules and 70% of these sites (393) were flagged for further investigation. A year
later, 57 additional sites were finally considered to be compliant, 18 no longer
exist, 194 were corrected following action by national authorities and 124 are
still the subject of administrative or legal proceedings in the countries concerned.
The main problems detected in this sweep were:
-
Missing information in consumer credit advertising (e.g. on the annual percentage rate of charge (APR): 258 sites were failing
to display all the standard information required by the Consumer Credit Directive.
-
Omission of key information on the offer and/or misleading presentation of the costs (e.g. type of interest rate (fixed, variable or both), duration of the credit):
244 sites failed to give clear information about all the different elements of
the total cost. [2]
For more information:
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/enforcement/sweeps_en.htm
MEMO/12/2
Annex
Number of websites still open on 15 November 2012, checked, corrected and now compliant:
|
Country
|
Websites checked
|
Websites corrected
|
Websites compliantas of 15 November 2012
|
% of websites compliant / websites checked
|
|
Austria
|
10
|
1
|
7
|
70%
|
|
Belgium
|
91
|
44
|
62
|
68%
|
|
Bulgaria
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
100%
|
|
Cyprus
|
10
|
7
|
10
|
100%
|
|
Czech Republic
|
10
|
8
|
10
|
100%
|
|
Denmark
|
10
|
2
|
4
|
40%
|
|
Estonia
|
15
|
8
|
12
|
80%
|
|
Finland
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
60%
|
|
France
|
50
|
11
|
50
|
100%
|
|
Germany
|
26
|
9
|
20
|
73%
|
|
Greece
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
100%
|
|
Hungary
|
15
|
2
|
8
|
53%
|
|
Iceland
|
10
|
0
|
10
|
100%
|
|
Ireland
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
100%
|
|
Italy
|
15
|
11
|
15
|
100%
|
|
Latvia
|
9
|
7
|
9
|
100%
|
|
Lithuania
|
5
|
2
|
5
|
100%
|
|
Luxembourg
|
20
|
5
|
14
|
70%
|
|
Malta
|
5
|
1
|
5
|
100%
|
|
Netherlands
|
40
|
25
|
34
|
85%
|
|
Norway
|
27
|
0
|
13
|
48%
|
|
Poland
|
9
|
4
|
9
|
100%
|
|
Portugal
|
39
|
8
|
39
|
100%
|
|
Romania
|
18
|
6
|
18
|
100%
|
|
Slovakia
|
10
|
8
|
8
|
80%
|
|
Spain
|
26
|
15
|
15
|
58%
|
|
Sweden
|
15
|
6
|
11
|
73%
|
|
United Kingdom
|
45
|
2
|
20
|
44%
|
|
Total*
|
547**
|
194
|
423
|
77%
|
*: Slovenia participated to the sweep but did not find any websites offering
online consumer credit.
**: From the 565 websites checked in 2011, 547 remain in operation and 18 do
not exist anymore.
[1] ECB, Euro Area Statistics, www.ecb.int/stats/money/aggregates/bsheets/html/index.en.html
[2] See IP/12/6 on the first phase of the Sweep 2011