Plans for a new consumer credit regulation

25/02/2026

More and more people are borrowing money to purchase goods and services. Loans have become a normal way of topping up the budget for some people, not just for big purchases or projects, like a new car, a home update or holiday, but also for day-to-day shopping or even basic needs. This means that the rules that govern these loans need to be refreshed to better protect financial consumers, ensure transparency and prevent over-indebtedness. 

You’ve probably seen or heard in the news that the means of financing goods and services purchases will be changing, but those changes haven’t taken place yet. Let’s get into it.

A draft bill on consumer credit contractsAbre en ventana nueva has recently been published to transpose two European Union directives. It’s only a draft at the moment, so it’s still got to go through several stages before being approved and coming into force.   

In any case, the draft includes several important changes. If approved, it would mean, among other things:

• Caps on interest rates and credit costs.
• These caps will apply to all financing products: consumer credit, microcredit, revolving credit cards and quick loans granted via digital platforms.
• New lending institutions will be created that will be known as “limited activity financial credit establishments” and “high-cost lenders”.
• Most of these lenders will be authorised and supervised by the Banco de España.
• As with mortgage lending, tying practices (where a credit agreement is only offered in a package with other financial products) will generally be prohibited.

Some existing obligations will be strengthened, including requirements to assess a customer’s solvency before granting credit and to provide pre-contractual information. Financial education will be encouraged, and mediation and arbitration will be put forward as ways of resolving disputes.

The aim is clear: to increase consumer protection, avoid over-indebtedness and introduce tighter rules on the microcredit and quick loans offered on digital platforms, which currently come with very high costs.