Information on the work on the draft Act on Consumer Credit and the amendment to the Consumer Rights Act appeared on the website of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. Adoption of the draft by the Council of Ministers is planned for the second quarter of 2025. This article discusses the main assumptions of the draft with regard to the Consumer Credit Act.
According to the information provided by the government, the proposed Act is intended to implement Directive (EU) 2023/2225 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 on consumer credit agreements and repealing Directive 2008/48/EC, known as the Consumer Credit Directive II / CCD II, as well as Directive (EU) 2023/2673 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 November 2023 amending Directive 2011/83/EU as regards distance contracts for financial services and repealing Directive 2002/65/EC.
The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection is responsible for preparing the draft.

Purpose of the CCDII Directive

The purpose of the CCD II Directive is to enhance the level of protection of the interests of consumers to whom consumer credit is offered and to ensure more complete harmonisation of provisions within the European Union.
The new Consumer Credit Act is to replace the Act of 12 May 2011 (which implemented Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Council Directive 87/102/EEC, known as the Consumer Credit Directive / CCD).
The reason for enacting a new Consumer Credit Act is the extensive scope and number of changes and the need to organise, redraft, and often simplify the provisions relating to consumer credit.

Lack of effectiveness of CCD provisions

The European Commission indicated, among the reasons for the lack of full effectiveness of the CCD, in particular:

• imprecise wording of some of its provisions;
• changes resulting from digital transformation;
• inconsistent application and enforcement of consumer credit provisions across Member States;
• and the fact that certain aspects of the consumer credit market were not covered by its scope.

Changes introduced by the CCDII Directive

New elements introduced by CCD II include:

• extension of the scope of application of the provisions regulating various types of consumer credit – credits in amounts up to EUR 200; hire and leasing agreements with an option to purchase the subject of the agreement; credits that are interest-free and granted without other charges; credits to be repaid within three months, for which only negligible fees are payable;
• new information requirements regarding advertising, including a ban on advertising suggesting that credit improves one’s financial situation, increases financial resources, constitutes a substitute for savings or may raise the standard of living, as well as simplification of pre-contractual information and the imposition of an obligation to provide consumers with appropriate explanations before concluding an agreement;
• more detailed requirements for creditworthiness assessment procedures and new rules on advisory and independent debt advice services;
• obligation for Member States to introduce upper limits on the costs of credit;
• solutions encouraging lenders to restructure loans where repayment difficulties arise;
• obligation to establish and apply authorisation and supervision procedures for lenders;
• permission to apply provisions implementing the Directive to credit agreements with an amount exceeding the equivalent of EUR 100,000 (the previous CCD limit was set at EUR 75,000) – the proposed Act provides, inter alia, for the abolition of the upper limit in this respect, which will result in covering the entirety of consumer credit transactions within its scope.

Some planned solutions of the new Consumer Credit Act (partially also related to so-called national options of CCD II, i.e. the possibility for Member States to adopt additional regulations):

• repeal of the current Article 36d of the old Consumer Credit Act, which excludes the application of the requirements set out in Articles 36a-c with respect to credit cards – intended, among others, to protect consumers from excessive charges related to the use of credit cards;
• modification of the free credit sanction through the introduction of a rule on proportional liability of the lender, so that fewer irregularities will result in a completely free credit;
• introduction of a free credit sanction in the event of violation of creditworthiness assessment requirements – together with a ban on advertising suggesting that existing indebtedness or information in databases has little or no impact on the chances of obtaining credit, as well as a ban on granting credit in the case of a negative creditworthiness assessment;
• clarification that the creditworthiness assessment shall be carried out on the basis of relevant and accurate information on the consumer’s income and expenses and other information concerning the consumer’s situation that is necessary and proportionate to the given credit and the risks associated with it, and that this information should be appropriately verified;
• introduction of the possibility for the consumer – where the creditworthiness assessment is conducted using automated data processing – to request a clear and comprehensible explanation of the creditworthiness assessment;
• repeal of the lender’s subsidiary liability currently provided for in Article 59 of the old Consumer Credit Act, under which paragraph 1 stipulates that if the seller or service provider fails to perform or improperly performs an obligation towards the consumer, and the consumer’s request for performance was ineffective, the consumer has the right to seek fulfilment of that obligation from the lender – the lender’s liability will be limited to financial liability;
• ban on bundling credit with non-financial products or services – to limit the possibility of entering into additional agreements unrelated to the credit but involving costs for the consumer;
• clarification of the provisions on linked credit;
• introduction of a rule that commencement of the performance of a consumer credit agreement is permitted if the consumer agrees – to enable consumers to immediately acquire the goods or services for which the credit is contracted;
• introduction of requirements regarding the qualifications and remuneration methods of staff.

CCD II sets the deadline for the adoption and publication of national implementing provisions at 20 November 2025, and their application at 20 November 2026.

Conclusion for Lenders

As of the publication date of this article, the exact shape of the draft Act is not yet known. However, it can already be said that entrepreneurs operating on the consumer credit market may take into account its key assumptions – such as, on the one hand, the possibility of granting consumer credits in higher amounts than before, and on the other hand, cost restrictions in the case of credit cards and the ban on bundling – in their business plans. Adjustment to the new regulations will also require processes, including those related to creditworthiness assessment, and the internal policies of lenders. If the legislative work on the draft Act is not delayed, we should learn its contents in the coming months – then it will be possible to discuss specific and optimal solutions, and lenders will have approximately one year to adapt to the new regulatory environment.