Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Loan

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 07:06

Estonian Riigikogu fails to approve bill restricting consumer credit cost

BC, Riga, 29.01.2015.Print version
The bill, which would have set restrictions on the consumer credit annual percentage rate and limited the use of arbitration courts, surprisingly failed on Wednesday in the Estonian Riigikogu, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

The bill needed 51 for votes to succeed, but got 47. 15 people abstained from voting. No one was against or neutral. This means that the bill did not get the support of the parliament's majority.

 

Reform Party, Social Democratic Party MPs as well as MPs not belonging to any party were for; opposition's Centre Party and Pro Patria and Res Publica Union MPs did not vote.

 

Reform Party MP Kalle Jents said the voting result was surprising. According to him, nothing in legal commission's debates hinted that the law could not be adopted.

 

According Jents, the instant loans topic must be dealt with by the next parliament that will be elected in March.

 

The bill was part of a package of bills that the government had submitted in order to control the controversial instant loans market better. There is an estimated more than 100,000 instant loan recipients in Estonia. Of these, approximately 35,000 persons have encountered difficulties in repaying the loan. Instant loans are currently the biggest cause of payment difficulties among people after fines.






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