Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.69.1.02
Responsible Lending de lege lata and de lege ferenda – General Questions
Siniša Petrović
orcid.org/0000-0001-9934-891X
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Jan Torjanac
orcid.org/0000-0003-4801-6178
; legal trainee
Abstract
Responsible lending and its more detailed regulation is a novelty in Croatian law that has gradually developed normatively under the influence of the acquis communautaire. The Credit Institutions Act and the Consumer Protection Act do not contain special provisions that would relate to the issue of responsible lending in the strict sense. The Consumer Credit Act addresses the obligation of creditworthiness assessment in a relatively superficial manner, while the Mortgage Consumer Credit Act on the other hand prescribes in detail the obligation of credit institutions to assess consumer creditworthiness. These rules aim at increasing the probability that consumers will be able to meet their credit obligations on a regular basis. The assessment seeks to achieve a balance between the idea of incorporation and protection of credit institutions from consumers who are not creditworthy. The regulations are largely in line with the acquis communautaire, although Croatia has failed to specify the implementation of certain provisions. Thus, de lege ferenda, regulatory measures can be divided into those that fall within the field of lending stricto sensu and other regulatory measures, where an example of the former is a more concrete arrangement of the legal consequences in case of approving the loan to a consumer who, according to the assessment, would not be creditworthy. A de lege ferenda proposal for other regulatory measures or measures of economic policy would be the solution of the housing issue through the institute of protected long-term rent. Lastly, responsible lending, though primarily directed at credit institutions, must also have a backbone in the form of financial responsibility of consumers, and therefore non-regulatory measures aimed at consumer education are proposed.
Keywords
responsible lending; assessment of creditworthiness; consumer protection law; financial responsibility; acquis communautaire
Hrčak ID:
217852
URI
Publication date:
28.2.2019.
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