Subject matter
Article 1
This Directive lays down a common framework for harmonisation of certain aspects of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning credit agreements for consumers.
Directive (EU) 2023/2225 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Directive 2008/48/EC CHAPTER I — GENERAL PROVISIONS
Scope
Article 2
1. This Directive applies to credit agreements. 2. This Directive does not apply to the following: (a) credit agreements which are secured either by a mortgage, or by another comparable security commonly used in a Member State on immovable property or secured by a right related to immovable property; (b) credit agreements the purpose of which is to acquire or retain property rights in land or in an existing or projected building, including premises used for trade, business or a profession; (c) credit agreements involving a total amount of credit of more than EUR 100 000; (d) credit agreements where the credit is granted by employers to their employees as a secondary activity either free of interest or offered at annual percentage rates of charge which are lower than those prevailing on the market and which are not offered to the general public; (e) credit agreements which are concluded with investment firms as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 25 ) or with credit institutions as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 for the purposes of allowing an investor to carry out a transaction relating to one or more of the financial instruments listed in Section C of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU, where the investment firm or credit institution granting the credit is involved in that transaction; (f) credit agreements which are the outcome of a settlement reached in court or before another statutory authority; (g) hiring or leasing agreements where an obligation or an option to purchase the object of the agreement is not laid down either in the agreement itself or in any separate agreement; (h) deferred payments whereby: (i) a supplier of goods or a provider of services, without a third party offering credit, gives the consumer time to pay for the goods or services supplied by that supplier or provider; (ii) the purchase price is to be paid free of interest and without any other charges and with only limited charges payable by the consumer for late payments imposed in accordance with national law; and (iii) the payment is to be entirely executed within 50 days of the delivery of the good or service. In the case of deferred payments offered by suppliers of goods or providers of services which are not micro, small or medium-sized enterprises as defined in Recommendation 2003/361/EC where such suppliers or providers offer information society services within the meaning of Article 1(1), point (b), of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 26 ) consisting of the conclusion of distance contracts with consumers for the sale of goods or supply of services within the meaning of Article 2, point 7 of Directive 2011/83/EU, this exclusion from the scope of this Directive shall apply only where the following conditions are fulfilled: (i) a third party is neither offering nor purchasing credit; (ii) the payment is to be entirely executed within 14 days of the delivery of the goods or services; and (iii) the purchase price is to be paid free of interest and without any other charges and with only limited charges payable by the consumer for late payments imposed in accordance with national law; (i) credit agreements which relate to the deferred payment, free of charge, of an existing debt; (j) credit agreements where the consumer is requested to deposit an item as security in the creditor’s safe-keeping and the liability of the consumer is strictly limited to that deposited item; (k) credit agreements which relate to loans granted to a restricted public under a statutory provision with a general interest purpose, and at lower borrowing rates than those prevailing on the market or free of interest or on other terms which are more favourable to the consumer than those prevailing on the market; (l) credit agreements existing on 20 November 2026; however, Articles 23 and 24, Article 25(1), second sentence, Article 25(2) and Articles 28 and 39 shall apply to all open-end credit agreements existing on 20 November 2026. 3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, point (c), this Directive applies to credit agreements involving a total amount of credit of more than EUR 100 000 which are not secured either by a mortgage, or by another comparable security commonly used in a Member State on immovable property or by a right related to immovable property, where the purpose of those credit agreements is the renovation of a residential immovable property. 4. In the case of credit agreements in the form of overrunning, only the following Articles shall apply: (a) Articles 1, 2, 3, 17, 19, 25, 31, 35, 36 and 39 to 50; and (b) Article 18, unless otherwise determined by Member States. 5. Member States may exempt from the application of this Directive credit agreements in the form of deferred debit cards: (a) which are provided by a credit or payment institution; (b) under the terms of which the credit has to be repaid within 40 days; and (c) which are free of interest and with only limited charges for the provision of the payment service. 6. Member States may determine that only Articles 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 19 and 20, Article 21(1), first subparagraph, points (a) to (h) and (l), Article 21(3) and Articles 23, 25 and 28 to 50 apply to credit agreements which are concluded by an organisation whose membership is restricted to persons residing or employed in a particular location or to employees and retired employees of a particular employer, or to persons meeting other qualifications laid down under national law as the basis for the existence of a common bond between the members and which fulfils all of the following conditions: (a) it is established for the mutual benefit of its members; (b) it does not make profits for any other person than its members; (c) it fulfils a social purpose required by national law; (d) it receives and manages the savings of, and provides sources of credit to, its members only; (e) it provides credit on the basis of an annual percentage rate of charge which is lower than that prevailing on the market or which is subject to a ceiling laid down by national law. Member States may exempt from the application of this Directive credit agreements concluded by an organisation referred to in the first subparagraph where the total value of all existing credit agreements entered into by that organisation is insignificant in relation to the total value of all existing credit agreements in the Member State in which the organisation is based and the total value of all existing credit agreements entered into by all such organisations in that Member State is less than 1 % of the total value of all existing credit agreements entered into in that Member State. Member States shall each year review whether the conditions for the application of any such exemption as referred to in the second subparagraph are still fulfilled and shall take action to withdraw the exemption where they consider that they are no longer met. 7. Member States may determine that only Articles 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 19 and 20, Article 21(1), first subparagraph, points (a) to (h), (l) and (r), Article 21(3) and Articles 23, 25, 28 to 38 and 40 to 50 shall apply to credit agreements between the creditor and the consumer in respect of deferred payment or of repayment methods, where the consumer is already in default or is likely to default on the initial credit agreement and where the following conditions are fulfilled: (a) the arrangement is likely to avert the possibility of legal proceedings concerning the default of the consumer; (b) the consumer would not, by entering into the arrangement, be subject to terms less favourable than those laid down in the initial credit agreement. 8. Member States may determine that Article 8(3), points (d), (e) and (f), Article 10(5), Article 11(4) and Article 21(3) do not apply to one or more of the following credit agreements: (a) credit agreements involving a total amount of credit of less than EUR 200; (b) credit agreements where credit is granted free of interest and without any other charges; (c) credit agreements under the terms of which credit has to be repaid within three months and only insignificant charges are payable.
Definitions
Article 3
For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply: (1) ‘consumer’ means a natural person who acts for purposes which are outside his or her trade, business or profession; (2) ‘creditor’ means a natural or legal person who grants or promises to grant credit in the course of that person’s trade, business or profession; (3) ‘credit agreement’ means an agreement whereby a creditor grants or promises to grant to a consumer credit in the form of a deferred payment, loan or other similar financial accommodation, except for agreements for the provision on a continuing basis of services or for the supply of goods of the same kind, where the consumer pays for such services or goods for the duration of their provision by means of instalments; (4) ‘ancillary service’ means a service offered to the consumer in conjunction with the credit agreement; (5) ‘total cost of the credit to the consumer’ means all the costs, including interest, commissions, taxes and any other kind of fees which the consumer is required to pay in connection with the credit agreement and which are known to the creditor, except for notarial costs; costs in respect of ancillary services relating to the credit agreement, in particular insurance premiums, are also included in the total cost of the credit to the consumer where, in addition, the conclusion of a contract regarding such ancillary services is compulsory in order to obtain the credit or to obtain it on the terms and conditions marketed; (6) ‘total amount payable by the consumer’ means the sum of the total amount of credit and the total cost of the credit to the consumer; (7) ‘annual percentage rate of charge’ or ‘APR’ means the total cost of the credit to the consumer, expressed as an annual percentage of the total amount of credit and calculated as set out in Article 30; (8) ‘borrowing rate’ means the interest rate expressed as a fixed or variable percentage applied on an annual basis to the amount of credit drawn down; (9) ‘fixed borrowing rate’ means the borrowing rate that the creditor and the consumer agree on in the credit agreement for the entire duration of the credit agreement, or several borrowing rates that the creditor and the consumer agree on in the credit agreement for partial periods for which the borrowing rates are determined exclusively by a fixed specific percentage; if not all borrowing rates are determined in the credit agreement, the borrowing rate shall be deemed to be fixed only for the partial periods for which the borrowing rates are determined exclusively by a fixed specific percentage agreed on the conclusion of the credit agreement; (10) ‘total amount of credit’ means the ceiling or the total sums made available under a credit agreement; (11) ‘durable medium’ means any instrument which enables the consumer to store information addressed personally to him or her in a way accessible for future reference for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the information and which allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored; (12) ‘credit intermediary’ means a natural or legal person that is not acting as a creditor or notary and not merely introducing, either directly or indirectly, a consumer to a creditor, and who, in the course of that person’s trade, business or profession, for remuneration, which may take a pecuniary form or any other agreed form of financial consideration: (a) presents or offers credit agreements to consumers; (b) assists consumers by undertaking preparatory work or other pre-contractual administration in respect of credit agreements other than as referred to in point (a); or (c) concludes credit agreements with consumers on behalf of the creditor; (13) ‘pre-contractual information’ means the information which is provided before the consumer is bound by a credit agreement or, where applicable, by the submission of a binding offer and which the consumer needs in order to be able to compare different credit offers and take an informed decision on whether to conclude the credit agreement; (14) ‘profiling’ means profiling as defined in Article 4, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679; (15) ‘tying practice’ means the offering or the selling of a credit agreement in a package with other distinct financial products or services where the credit agreement is not made available to the consumer separately; (16) ‘bundling practice’ means the offering or the selling of a credit agreement in a package with other distinct financial products or services where the credit agreement is also made available to the consumer separately but not necessarily on the same terms or conditions as when offered bundled with those other products or services; (17) ‘advisory services’ means personal recommendations to a consumer in respect of one or more transactions relating to credit agreements and that constitute a separate activity from the granting of a credit and from the credit intermediation activities as set out in point (12); (18) ‘overdraft facility’ means an explicit credit agreement whereby a creditor makes available to a consumer funds which exceed the current balance in the consumer’s current account; (19) ‘overrunning’ means a tacitly accepted overdraft whereby a creditor makes available to a consumer funds which exceed the current balance in the consumer’s current account or the agreed overdraft facility; (20) ‘linked credit agreement’ means a credit agreement where: (a) the credit or services in question serve exclusively to finance an agreement for the supply of specific goods or the provision of a specific service; and (b) those two agreements form, from an objective point of view, a commercial unit; a commercial unit shall be deemed to exist where the supplier of goods or the provider of services himself or herself finances the credit for the consumer or, if it is financed by a third party, where the creditor uses the services of the supplier of goods or the provider of services in connection with the marketing, conclusion or preparation of the credit agreement, or where the specific goods or the provision of a specific service are explicitly specified in the credit agreement; (21) ‘early repayment’ means the full or partial discharge of the consumer’s obligations under a credit agreement, before the date agreed in the credit agreement; (22) ‘debt advisory services’ means personalised assistance of a technical, legal or psychological nature provided by independent professional operators which are not, in particular, creditors or credit intermediaries as defined in this Directive, or credit purchasers or credit servicers as defined in Article 3, points (6) and (8), of Directive (EU) 2021/2167 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 27 ) , in favour of consumers who experience or might experience difficulties in meeting their financial commitments.
Conversion of amounts expressed in euro into national currency
Article 4
1. For the purposes of this Directive, those Member States which convert the amounts expressed in euro into their national currency shall initially use in that conversion the exchange rate prevailing on 19 November 2023. 2. Member States may round off the amounts resulting from the conversion referred to in paragraph 1, provided that such rounding off does not exceed EUR 10.
Obligation to provide information free of charge to consumers
Article 5
Member States shall require that, when information is provided to consumers in accordance with this Directive, such information is provided without charge to the consumer regardless of the media used to provide it.
Non-discrimination
Article 6
Member States shall ensure that the conditions to be fulfilled for being granted a credit do not discriminate against consumers legally resident in the Union on ground of their nationality or place of residence or on any ground as referred to in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, when those consumers request, conclude or hold a credit agreement within the Union. The first paragraph shall be without prejudice to the possibility of offering different conditions of access to a credit where those different conditions are duly justified by objective criteria.
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