French Consumer Code

All advertising, with the exception of broadcast advertising, contains the following statement, irrespective of the medium used: “A loan commits you and must be repaid. Check your ability to repay before committing yourself”.

Any advertising, regardless of the medium, relating to one of the transactions mentioned in article L. 312-1 and indicates an interest rate or figures relating to the cost of credit clearly, precisely and visibly mentions the following information using a representative example: 1° The borrowing rate and whether it is fixed, variable or reviewable, except in the case of hire-purchase or hire-purchase transactions, and information relating to all charges included…

When a creditor usually offers credit agreements with an insurance proposal whose purpose is to guarantee repayment of the credit, any advertising mentioned in the first paragraph of Article L. 312-6 distributed on its behalf on these contracts mentions the cost of the insurance, using the representative example mentioned in the same paragraph. This cost is expressed: 1° Excluding any other rate, in terms of the annual effective rate of…

In all written advertising, regardless of the medium used, the information relating to the annual percentage rate of charge, its fixed, variable or revisable nature, the total amount owed by the borrower and the amount of the instalments, as well as the statement indicated in Article L. 312-5, appear in a larger font size than that used to indicate any other information relating to the characteristics of the financing, in…

When an advertisement is sent by post or by electronic mail, distributed directly to the home or on the public highway, the document sent to the consumer reminds him in a clear, precise and visible manner of his right to object free of charge to the use of his personal data for canvassing purposes and the procedures for exercising this right. When this advertising indicates an interest rate or quantified…

In all advertising, it is forbidden to state that a credit transaction or agreement, or a credit transaction consisting of grouping together previous loans, may be granted without any information enabling the borrower’s financial situation to be assessed, or to imply that the loan improves the borrower’s financial situation or budget, leads to an increase in resources, constitutes a substitute for savings or grants an automatic reserve of immediately available…

In all advertising, it is forbidden to offer, in any form whatsoever, promotional prizes linked to the acceptance of an advance offer of credit.