Bundestag approves new guidelines for client loans | EUROtoday

Consumers ought to be higher protected in credit score transactions sooner or later. The Bundestag in Berlin determined this. The core of the reform consists of extra and stricter credit score checks, but additionally higher safety of non-public knowledge. Germany is thus implementing EU legislation. “The reform of consumer credit law is one of the largest consumer policy legislative projects in recent years and affects many millions of people,” mentioned Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD), who didn’t communicate within the Bundestag, to the German Press Agency.

In the long run, cost strategies similar to “Buy now, pay later” shall be topic to the identical guidelines as client loans. This is how your creditworthiness ought to be checked. “This counters the risk that younger consumers, in particular, will lose track of their liabilities and fall into a spiral of over-indebtedness by concluding a large number of such contracts, even if the individual amounts in question are not particularly high.

According to a survey by the financial regulator Bafin, almost a quarter of people under the age of 30 have lost track of outstanding invoices when shopping online using the “buy now, pay later” methodology. During the controversy, CDU MP Sebastian Steineke pointed to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, in keeping with which round 5.7 million folks had been over-indebted in 2024/2025. Younger individuals are additionally more and more being affected. “One in five people under 30 now have debt, often facilitated by payment services that encourage spending behavior by simply paying later.”

The guidelines for credit score checks are being streamlined. Loans ought to solely be granted if they’re more likely to be repaid. No info from social networks or notably delicate knowledge similar to well being knowledge could also be used in the course of the test. Lenders are required to point out “forbearance” in the direction of debtors. This ought to take impact on the newest earlier than enforcement measures are initiated. Before termination, customers in monetary difficulties ought to be provided a contract adjustment, similar to an extension of the time period or a deferral of mortgage installments. In the long run, banks will solely be allowed to grant overdrafts with one
Terminate a discover interval of no less than two months.

Nadine Heselhaus from the SPD spoke of a “real improvement in consumer protection” and emphasised: “With this law we are ensuring that a simple purchase does not become a debt trap.” In distinction, the Greens and the Left didn’t see the laws as in depth sufficient. “Overall, the Union and the SPD simply leave too many unnecessary gaps in protection,” criticized Green MP Stefan Schmidt. Among different issues, he complained that so-called debit playing cards had been excluded and that safety in opposition to usurious rates of interest was solely half-hearted.