The Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, has begun to investigate ex officio the level of protection offered to consumers by microcredit and quick credit granting entities, after receiving complaints from several citizens regarding possible abuses.
Its actions, as indicated this Thursday, will be carried out together with the Bank of Spain and the Ministry of Economy, and will pay special attention to the high interests and short deadlines for the return of the amounts lent. These aspects are precisely what citizens are denouncing.
For the Ombudsman, there are two factors that justify his intervention. One is that the firms that grant quick loans are often not considered credit institutions. The second is that microcredits tend to target a vulnerable type of consumer who is going through difficult circumstances.
Clients find themselves, he says, in sometimes “desperate” situations in which they “choose to relegate their right to financial information and advice.” They also lack negotiation capacity with the lender, unlike what happens with conventional entities, in which refinancing mechanisms are usually established in the event of default.
Another aspect that the Ombudsman highlights is that these loans, whose amounts are usually between 1,000 and 10,000 euros, are granted almost automatically, even online or by telephone, without a risk or solvency analysis, which leads to many people to over-indebtedness.
In his opinion, “it does not seem that there is a specific regulation that disciplines its actions, beyond the consumer and user protection regulations, or those provided for in the Civil Code and the Commercial Code.”
The companies that offer these products, he says, have insufficient self-regulation that is barely guided by the sentences issued by the courts. Last year, the Supreme Court established a reference for usury, setting it in the case of revolving cards at more than six points above the average market interest rate.
The Ombudsman has asked the Bank of Spain and the Government what actions or guidelines they use regarding these practices. He is also keen for the future financial ombudsman to protect customers from these products.
