Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Loan

The law amendment regulating fast loan market activity, came to force about three months ago, in May 2009. The upper limit was set to loan interests, Tõnis Hinnosaar, the co-founder of Webistre Solutions OÜ which manages Kiirlaen.info, said.

The upper limit comes to force only when some assumptions are filled. The main thing is that the lender may not take advantage of a borrower's difficult situation. The borrower must be aware of all loan terms, and the issuer must be aware of the borrower's economic situation.

"One must admit that there haven't been big changes. We envisaged then that borrowers would start to think of new possibilities on taxation of the loans. It has happened since several loan lenders have reduced interest rates, but have added credit rating analysis or some other similar service. In practice, it means that loan will cost as much as before," Hinnosaar said.