Before entering into an open credit contract with you, merchants are required to evaluate whether you can reimburse this credit. They must also do this evaluation before increasing your credit limit (e.g. for a credit card).
The law considers that banks and financial services cooperatives fulfill this evaluation obligation. The information that follows therefore concerns you if you do business with a financing company or a company that offers "alternative" financial services.
Information that may be used
Merchants are deemed to have satisfied this obligation where they have taken certain information into consideration in their evaluation. Among other things, this includes your income, monthly expenses incurred for housing, monthly payments required by other credit contracts, etc.
In the case of a "high-cost" credit contract, merchants are required to give you a document that presents the results of their evaluation.
Results of the evaluation
Has the merchant completed the evaluation? If not, the merchant is not allowed to have you pay any credit charges, and is even required to reimburse any you may have already paid.
Merchants responsible for the evaluation
This evaluation is the responsibility of the merchant that enters into the credit contract with you. The merchant may also assign the contract to another merchant. If the latter is the merchant that approved the contract, that merchant is responsible for conducting the evaluation.
Last update : July 4, 2022
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The information contained on this page is presented in simple terms to make it easier to understand. It does not replace the texts of the laws and regulations.
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