Act No. 257/2016 Coll. , on consumer credit, also applies to e-shops, affiliates, and other online entrepreneurs. If their business concerns non-bank loans and consumer loans, they should sharpen and study everything needed.

After worrying about EET, which was initially not supposed to concern e-shops, and eventually, the vast majority of e-shops fell into it, and a few months before the forthcoming EU Data Protection Ordinance or General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR for short – touches online business. The amendment to the Consumer Credit Act applies to all providers and intermediaries of non-bank loans, regardless of whether the entity operates offline or online.

What about e-shops and consumer credit intermediation?

“ As part of our e-shop solutions, we offer e-shop operators to purchase their product through E-Money and HomeCredit. Some have their own installment calculator. That is why the law clearly applies to them and we care very much to make it easier for our customers to do business.

Therefore, we try not only to arrive in time with a suitable technical solution, if necessary but also to follow news across the industry and publish it on our blog, ”Karel Jeřábek, Managing Director of Golemos comments on the situation around the shop.

The Act is quite an essential paragraph 3 para. There is a provision saying that consumer credit mediation means, inter alia, offering the possibility to arrange a consumer credit or preparation to negotiate a consumer credit or to provide recommendations that could lead to the negotiation of a non-bank loan. If you have the option to pay by installment or consumer credit financing, the law applies to you.

Difference between so-called tipping and consumer credit intermediation

Consumer credit mediation may include merely providing information on a credit product, which may be included, for example, on a seller’s or non-financial service provider’s website or on a regular loan affiliate website.

The law distinguishes between mediation and picking, where the website only lists credit companies without further assistance in making decisions. Between them is very thin ice and every online entrepreneur should thoroughly evaluate which side he is on and on which he wants to be.

Crossing the line of tip making towards mediation means that it is necessary to adapt its activities to the regulation of the Consumer Credit Act. The law firm interprets the Good Finance’s position on the difference between so-called tip-hunting and mediation as follows:

“ The activity of a“ tip-hunter ”must not exceed the level where the consumer is generally interested in concluding a credit agreement; interest in a particular type of consumer credit, and this information, together with the contact details of the candidate, shall be passed on to the consumer credit intermediary or intermediary. Thus, if the website were purely informational, and a potential contact form or hyperlink to a consumer credit provider or intermediary would be prepared, this would only be a ‘tipping’. “.

So what, according to the Good Finance, is downright mediation of consumer credit? On the other hand, mediating will also be an interest in concluding a credit agreement or assisting in its conclusion. Mediation is therefore also activities in which the loan applicant is provided with information on the characteristics of a specific product (eg information on a specific loan interest rate, monthly installments, etc.) or an analysis of products with final recommendation is carried out in order to lead the loan applicant to close a specific product (such as “recommend”, “tip”, “best value”, etc.). Thus, the above-mentioned threshold is exceeded by activities that are not only aimed at finding (“identifying”) the candidate but also at obtaining the candidate (or conviction in the form of a mental decision or serious interest in negotiating a more specific product),.

Mediation would thus be considered to be cases where a candidate approaches a selected consumer credit provider in order to inquire about a particular product for which he has decided on the basis of information provided by the intermediary, for example by avoiding product analysis (especially if the individual characteristics of the candidate) was recommended directly or indirectly. Such mediation may, for example, take the form of a link to the provider’s website or a contact form.

Where to go?

Therefore, if you wish to continue offering your products with the option of hire purchase or any other consumer credit financing, you must obtain a Good Finance authorization for such activity. which is an accredited person of the Good Finance for examinations pursuant to Act no. 257/2016 Coll.

It can help you obtain authorization for intermediaries of non-bank loans. , on consumer credit. You can request a consultation on a specific situation for free, get free access to e-learning incl. tests in a clean and well-prepared way for passing proficiency tests.