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Assessment of consumers’ creditworthiness

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Abstract

Creditworthiness assessment is a valuable tool in avoiding irresponsible lending. Both the Consumer Credit Directive and the Mortgage Credit Directive provide for the requirement of a creditworthiness assessment before the conclusion of the credit agreement. However, neither the Consumer Credit Directive nor the Mortgage Credit Directive adequately regulate the content of the information to be collected by creditors in order to assess creditworthiness, with the result that quite different approaches are followed in different Member States. At the same time, while the Mortgage Credit Directive provides clear direction as to the granting or not of the loan depending on the outcome of the assessment, the corresponding provision of the Consumer Credit Directive leaves much room for interpretation.

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Notes

  1. Commission [5], p. 9.

  2. Commission [5], p. 9.

  3. Commission [4], p. 7.

  4. Commission [5], p. 9.

  5. Finlay [14], p. 73, Perakis [19], p. 352.

  6. Livada [17], p. 247. See in detail CIVIC Consulting [2], pp. 19, 22.

  7. Livada [17], p. 247.

  8. CIVIC Consulting [2], p. 20.

  9. For the cause of households’ over-indebtedness, see in detail CIVIC Consulting [2], p. 92.

  10. CIVIC Consulting [2], pp. 172–173.

  11. Livada [17], p. 250.

  12. See in detail Ferretti, Livada [13], p. 26.

  13. See in detail Gortsos [15], p. 166.

  14. Directive 2014/17/EU, Art. 4(17).

  15. See Alessi [1], p. 657, Livada [16], p. 259.

  16. See Livada [16], p. 257.

  17. Commission [3], p. 2.

  18. See also Ferretti [12], p. 4.

  19. See also Ferretti [12], p. 16.

  20. Commission [5], p. 11.

  21. Directive 2008/48/EC [7].

  22. Commission [3], p. 5. See also Ferretti [12], p. 3, Van Heerden CM and Steennot R. [20], p. 7.

  23. Commission [3], p. 5, Commission [6], p. 10. See also Van Heerden CM and Steennot R. [20], 15.

  24. Commission [3], p. 5.

  25. See Ferreti, Livada [13], p. 18.

  26. OECD [18], p. 8.

  27. Van Heerden CM and Steennot R. [20], p. 9.

  28. CJEU [11] para. 22.

  29. Kušionová, C-34/13, EU:C:2014:2189, paragraph 52 and the case-law cited CJEU [11] para. 25.

  30. CJEU [11] para. 27.

  31. CJEU [11] para. 32.

  32. Commission [3], p. 4.

  33. Commission [3], p. 4.

  34. Commission [3], p. 4.

  35. Directive 2014/17/EU [8].

  36. Van Heerden CM and Steennot R. [20], p. 7.

  37. Van Heerden CM and Steennot R. [20], p. 8.

  38. Van Heerden CM and Steennot R. [20], p. 9.

  39. See also EBA [9]. See also EBA [10].

  40. See Ferretti, Livada [13], p. 34.

  41. See Ferretti, Livada [13], p. 20.

  42. See Ferretti, Livada [13], p. 22.

  43. See Ferretti, Livada [13], p. 22.

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  1. Law School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Christina K. Livada

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Livada, C.K. Assessment of consumers’ creditworthiness. ERA Forum 20, 225–236 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-019-00574-w

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