Act No. 257/2016 Coll., On Consumer Credit came into force on 1 December last year. E-commerce also applies, although this is not obvious at first sight. We’ve gone through the paragraphs for you, so you don’t get into trouble. First, a Christmas-tree crumbles, then worry about Credit Checker. You may have missed the obligation to make consumer credit.
Because an entrepreneur may find himself in a situation where, by definition, his activity fulfills the characteristics of mediation of consumer credit, even though he did not intend to do so.
Why be alert?
In such a case, his business activity must credit Checker all the conditions for mediation under the Consumer Credit Act, including obtaining authorization to do so.
“As part of our e-shop solutions, we offer e-shop operators to purchase their product through E-Money and HomeCredit. Some have their own installment calculator. That is why the law clearly applies to them and we care very much to make it easier for our customers to do business.
Therefore, we strive not only to come up with the right technical solution in time, if necessary but also to follow news across the industry and post it here on our blog.
So what you should know this time
Pursuant to Section 3, Para. b) of the Consumer Credit Act means the mediation of consumer credit including, inter alia, offering the possibility of arranging a consumer credit or carrying out preparatory work to negotiate a consumer credit or providing recommendations that could lead to the negotiation of consumer credit.
If you offer your customers the opportunity to buy goods in your e-shop on credit, the law applies to you.
And beware: In some cases, mediation may also include merely providing information about a credit product, which may be listed, for example, on the website of a seller or non-financial service provider.
When are you out of it
- If you do not offer any goods on credit at all, nor do you mention the possibility of obtaining a loan.
- The regulation of the new law does not apply to the mere provision of general information on consumer credit products or similar information on providers or intermediaries, provided that such activity is not intended to facilitate the conclusion or performance of a consumer credit agreement (so-called tipping).
Note: But it is quite difficult to define the boundary between the so-called tipping business, which is not subject to the new law, and mediation. In doing so, exceeding this threshold means that it is necessary to adapt its activities to the regulation of the Consumer Credit Act (in particular, to obtain authorization to act as an intermediary).
“The activity of a“ tip maker ”must not exceed the limit of the consumer’s interest in the possible conclusion of a credit agreement, resp. interest in a particular type of consumer credit, and shall pass this information together with the contact details of the candidate to the consumer credit intermediary or intermediary.
Therefore, if the website were of an informational nature only, and a potential contact form or hyperlink to a consumer credit provider or intermediary would be prepared, this would only be a ‘tipping’. ‘
Mediation is therefore also activities in which the loan applicant is provided with information on the characteristics of a specific product (eg information on a specific loan interest rate, monthly installments, etc.) or an analysis of products with final recommendation is carried out in order to lead the loan applicant to close a specific product (such as “recommend”, “tip”, “best value”, etc.).
Thus, the above-mentioned threshold is exceeded by activities that are not only aimed at finding (“identifying”) the candidate but also at obtaining the candidate (or conviction in the form of a mental decision or serious interest in negotiating a more specific product),.
Mediation would thus be considered to be cases
Where a candidate approaches a selected consumer credit provider to inquire about a specific product for which he has decided on the basis of the information provided by the intermediary, for example, to avoid analyzing the product (especially when the individual characteristics of the candidate) was recommended directly or indirectly. Such mediation may, for example, take the form of a link to the provider’s website or a contact form. ‘
“In view of the above, it can be stated that where a trader wishes to offer specific credit products on its website, such activity should be considered as credit intermediation,”