Last week the follow-up results of a Consumer Credit sweep from 2011 were made public. A 'sweep' is an exercise to enforce EU law. Under a supervision of EU institutions, national enforcement authorities conduct simultaneous, coordinated investigations - looking for breaches in consumer law in a particular sector. In case any irregularities are discovered, website operators are contacted and asked to correct them. In September 2011 it was time for examination of websites offering consumer credits to consumers. In total, 565 websites across 27 Member States, Norway and Iceland were checked. Unfortunately, at that time only 30% passed the test for compliance with the applicable EU consumer rules (e.g. regarding information duties, right of withdrawal). Out of the remaining websites: "A year later, 57 additional sites were finally considered to be
compliant, 18 websites no longer exist, 194 websites were corrected
following action by the national authorities and 124 websites are still
the subject of administrative or legal proceedings in the countries
concerned." (Buying consumer credit on-line: following EU action, over 75% of websites checked now give satisfactory information to clients) As a result of European intervention of the percentage of websites that comply with consumer protection rules has significantly increased, since only ca 23% of websites remain questioned as to their compliance. The main problems that were reported was missing information in consumer credit advertising (e.g. on the APR - annual percentage rate of change, or on standard information) or in the offer itself, as well as misleading presentation of the costs (e.g. type of interest rate, duration of the credit). See further here.Tuesday 27 November 2012
A year after EU action: from 30 to 75% of compliant websites offering consumer credits online
Last week the follow-up results of a Consumer Credit sweep from 2011 were made public. A 'sweep' is an exercise to enforce EU law. Under a supervision of EU institutions, national enforcement authorities conduct simultaneous, coordinated investigations - looking for breaches in consumer law in a particular sector. In case any irregularities are discovered, website operators are contacted and asked to correct them. In September 2011 it was time for examination of websites offering consumer credits to consumers. In total, 565 websites across 27 Member States, Norway and Iceland were checked. Unfortunately, at that time only 30% passed the test for compliance with the applicable EU consumer rules (e.g. regarding information duties, right of withdrawal). Out of the remaining websites: "A year later, 57 additional sites were finally considered to be
compliant, 18 websites no longer exist, 194 websites were corrected
following action by the national authorities and 124 websites are still
the subject of administrative or legal proceedings in the countries
concerned." (Buying consumer credit on-line: following EU action, over 75% of websites checked now give satisfactory information to clients) As a result of European intervention of the percentage of websites that comply with consumer protection rules has significantly increased, since only ca 23% of websites remain questioned as to their compliance. The main problems that were reported was missing information in consumer credit advertising (e.g. on the APR - annual percentage rate of change, or on standard information) or in the offer itself, as well as misleading presentation of the costs (e.g. type of interest rate, duration of the credit). See further here.
