Voluntary Code of Conduct on pre contractual information to be given to consumers by lenders offering Housing Credit

In their continuous efforts to enhance consumer protection, member banks voluntarily adopted a Code of Conduct for Housing Credit.  This Code lays down all pre-contractual information to be given to consumers by lenders providing housing loans. An information sheet is provided to customers at the pre-contractual stage and includes the following information:

  1. General information regarding housing loans that the lender offers
  2. Personalized information on a pre-contractual level to be presented in a European Standardised Information Sheet.

The Code of Housing Loans covers all kinds of credit provided to a consumer for the purchase or renovation of private immovable property owned by the consumer provided the credit is secured by a mortgage.

The Code was approved by the Board of Directors of the Association and was voluntarily adopted by member banks on February 2004.

However, the Code is expected to be revised once the provisions of the European Directive 2014/17/EC on mortgage credit are delivered into national legislation. The aforementioned Directive provides a set of pre-contractual information to be provided to consumers by credit institutions. This personalized information is needed so that consumers compare competitive credit offers in the market, assess their implications and take informed decisions on whether to conclude a credit agreement or not. According to the Directive, the pre-contractual information should be provided to consumers free of charge on paper and accompanied by an ESIS (European Standardized Information Sheet).