You have always denounced the avalanche of unregulated firms that lend money, what do you think that the Ombudsman wants to investigate consumer protection regarding quick loans?
I think it is positive that you are concerned about a situation that is affecting many consumers who do not have normal access to credit through the usual, formal channels, that is, bank credit. And I think it’s very good that you care about this situation being regulated. In fact, the recently approved European consumer credit directive establishes a regulation of all these types of entities that in Spain have grown in recent years like “mushrooms” because there was no reserve of activity to lend money, and everyone, people physical or legal entities could do so.
What can we expect from this European directive?
What is established is that there must be regulation and registration of all entities that are dedicated to lending money in any form in Spain, and any type of credit. Even below 200 euros, they will also be obliged to comply with the directive. And specifically it establishes that the States will have a regulation and a registry of this activity of lending money, something that already exists in Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, Belgium and Poland. Spain is the only important country in the EU where there is no regulation for this purpose and with the directive there will be one, we even hope that before the Ministry of Economy makes the decision to regulate this activity.
Will the directive put a stop to the exorbitant interest rates charged by some of these unregulated entities?
They are two different things: one is that the activity reserve be regulated, that is, to lend money in Spain you have to be a type of regulated entity, we advocate that they be financial credit establishments, and another thing is the interest rates. Here too the directive orders the Member States to regulate the types of usury credit in each country. Once again, Spain is the only country where there is no regulation for these types. The EU has given two years for the transposition of the directive and a further year for its entry into force. And in these two years the activity reserve has to be regulated on the one hand, and interest rates on the other.
Is this directive bad news for unregulated entities?
It is good news for the consumer who will feel more protected, because all regulated entities are obliged to have a lot of regulations, not only consumer, but also banking to protect the consumer and give them security. Among other things, customer service, governance, own resources, etc. And it can be bad news for those who want to lend money without evaluating their solvency, because many pride themselves on not doing an evaluation of the consumer’s solvency and therefore lead them to over-indebtedness. We have credit requests that we deny because when evaluating the client’s solvency we see that we have too much debt. Companies that are not regulated but are serious are going to become consumer credit entities (ECC) without any problem. Those that are not so serious will disappear as has already happened in other countries where there is already a reservation in the activity.
What credit granting expectations do you have for this year?
It depends on many factors, how employment evolves, inflation, what the ECB does with interest rates, the war in Gaza and its economic consequences, etc. We predict that it will remain contained at the levels of the third quarter of 2023 when the credit request grew by 4%, far from the 20% in the first quarter and 14% in the second. Let’s see what happens after the Sales.
2024-01-21 06:33:57
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