Consumer credit generally refers to a loan that is to be used for some form of consumption. Credit is often low in value and short in loan maturity, so it usually takes up to a few years to repay.

There are many different types of consumer loans, such as home improvement loans, vacation loans or car loans. There are many different types of credit available on the loan market, each of which you can choose to apply for.

What is Consumer Credit?

To put it bluntly, a loan is defined as a consumer credit if the loan is worth between $ 1,000 and $ 50,000 and is intended to buy a service such as travel or repair, or a product such as a boat or electronics. In addition to credit provided by financing companies and banks, consumer credit also includes installment purchase agreements offered by shops. It is always advisable for the consumer to consider the purpose and need of the credit and his ability to repay before applying. Always compare loans before applying.

Consumer loans in Finland were on the rise in early 2019. Just two years ago, the consumer loan portfolio was € 14.4 billion and the average growth rate was 3.7%, but this figure has already been exceeded in 2019. The growth of the loan portfolio is focused on longer term loans over five years. Longer loan periods usually mean a higher loan amount, somehow the growth of the consumer loan portfolio in 2016 will be focused on new consumer loans worth several thousand euros. Typically, this kind of credit in Finland is about EUR 15,000.

Consumer Credit Online or Consumer Credit Bank?

When applying for credit, you have more options for applying for a loan. You can think about whether online consumer credit is a good option for you, or whether traditional bank consumer credit would be better. However, competition between banks is fierce, so a comparison is always worthwhile.

Many traditional banks offer different types of credit products, but there are very few differences between them. It is important to keep in mind the following:

• Interest rate on consumer credit
• Other costs of the loan
• Own financial situation and ability to repay
• Apply for consumer credit only if you know you can repay the loan
• Do you want to combine loans? In this case, select the consolidation loan

This site has a handy consumer credit comparison where you can compare and apply for unsecured consumer loans online. In addition, they often have a fast processing time. Compare to see how you can get your consumer credit right away and you will surely find the best option.

How do consumer loans differ?

Consumer loans can be collateralised or unsecured. In an unsecured consumer loan, the loan is obtained without collateral or collateral. Because banks have no pledge on unsecured consumer loans, interest rates on unsecured loans are often higher than interest rates on secured loans. Thus, in unsecured consumer loans, banks or finance companies have nothing to compensate for their own losses if the borrower is unable to repay their loan in full. Therefore, interest rates are slightly higher than in secured consumer loans.

A secured credit is a loan that the borrower has given to a bank or finance company to secure some of their own assets against the loan. For example, housing, a car, a motorcycle, a summer cottage or other eligible property owned by the borrower may be covered. In secured consumer loans, the interest rate on credit is often lower than in unsecured consumer loans. This is because, in the case of secured loans, the risk of a bank or finance company losing the amount they borrow is reduced because, in the event of a possible insolvency, the borrower, bank or finance company has some sort of pledge of assets to offset any loss.Of course, the value of the assets secured by collateralized loans also affects the interest rate of the loan – the more valuable the property, the lower the interest rate and vice versa. However,

However, the benefit of unsecured credit is that it can just be obtained without collateral or guarantors. Many borrowers, and especially young people, may not have any assets or guarantors at all, which will make it much more difficult to obtain many other loans. While consumer credit can easily finance your daily expenses or sudden cash needs, borrowing should never be a thoughtless decision. The loan must always be repaid, with any interest, and the longer the term, the higher the cost of borrowing.

Consumer credit can also be drawn down as a one-time loan or as a continuous flexible loan. A one-time loan is a fixed loan amount that is granted and withdrawn in one installment at a time. After the one-off credit has been withdrawn, repayment begins in monthly installments. For example, in a $ 5,000 one-time consumer credit, you get the full amount of credit once in your account and repay the loan to your bank or finance company in fixed monthly installments or until the loan is fully repaid. A consumer credit can always be reduced prematurely at no additional cost.

In flexible loans, you can extend credit in installments up to your credit line. For example, in a $ 3,000 flexible loan, you can take out a loan of $ 1,000, for example, and you have the option to withdraw $ 2,000 in full or smaller installments in the future. When the credit is repaid, the same amount is released for re-draw. The process works the same as using a credit card. Are you now wondering if a credit card or consumer credit is cheaper? In any case, a consumer credit comparison is always worthwhile, because if you compare loans, you will find the cheapest consumer credit or travel credit online and get the best and most appropriate rates and terms. Compare Consumer Loans Now!

Unsecured consumer credit

Unsecured consumer loans can be conveniently applied for online or for example at a bank branch. However, compare the loans before applying to make sure you find the cheapest credit for you.

The application process is simple, but the conditions and requirements of each lender are slightly different, so you should familiarize yourself with them before applying for a loan. Here is our consumer credit comparison.

Applying for a consumer credit

When applying for consumer loans, it is worth paying attention to interest rates other than credit. In addition to interest, the cost of credit consists of any opening and service charges. You can easily see and compare current costs using the APR. You can conveniently compare the current APRs for different consumer loans and find the cheapest loan from our comparison.

You can easily apply for unsecured consumer loans online. Most credit providers require the applicant to have good credit information, Finnish residence, telephone number and bank account, as well as a steady income. Your salary and other details also affect how much you can get a loan. Regular income can be checked, for example, in a bank statement or pay slips. Before applying for a loan, it is a good idea to check that your finances are in a pattern that you can definitely repay the loan in full. So, it’s a good idea to make sure that you are able to pay your monthly installment now and in the future. Changes to your repayment plans are usually chargeable, so it would be cheaper to agree on a repayment plan that you can definitely commit to.Credit can easily be obtained from some providers.

The increase in unsecured consumer credit from the Bank of Finland is attributable to the fall in interest rates. In 2016, interest rates on unsecured consumer loans fell by almost one percentage point. In March this year, the average interest rate on unsecured consumer loans was 4.97% and that on collateralised loans was 3.01%, according to Bank of Finland statistics.

Loan periods have also been extended

In addition to the amount of loans, the loan periods have also been extended. The average repayment period for unsecured consumer loans taken in January-March 2017 is 12 years and 8 months. Last year the loan terms were shorter than five months (12 years, 3 months). In 2011, the average maturity of unsecured consumer loans was only 7 years and 9 months.

Foreign players are taking over the loan market

The growing demand for consumer credit is also reflected in the inflow of foreign loan providers to the Finnish loan market alongside traditional banks. The latest entrants to the Finnish financial market are Bank Norwegian (2016) and Good Finance (2017).

Traditional banks have lower interest rates on unsecured consumer loans than other banks, but traditional banks only lend to their own customers. Financial institutions, on the other hand, grant larger consumer loans than traditional banks; currently at eg Norwegian Bank, Good Finance and Good Lender offer up to € 50,000 of unsecured credit. In traditional banks, only an unsecured consumer credit of more than EUR 25,000 can be obtained from Goodbank.

Loan market is their low financing costs

The advantage of traditional Finnish banks in the loan market is their low financing costs, reliable reputation and huge amount of customer information. However, banks have not succeeded in keeping their products, processes and marketing up to date, but new, completely digital, players have succeeded in taking significant business away from traditional banks by gaining an increasing foothold in the market for unsecured consumer credit. More and more Finns are opting to take out loans outside their own bank.

Good lending practices emphasize the lender’s responsibility, including when assessing a consumer’s creditworthiness. It should be possible to assess the borrower’s financial circumstances on the basis of the best information available and to scale the credit to be granted accordingly. In practice, the realization of responsibility in this case is often based on trust: The credit decision must be made on the basis of the consumer’s self-reported income and debt. This type of procedure inevitably shifts the responsibility to the consumer, as the creditor currently has no reliable way of verifying the information provided by the credit applicant. That is also why, from time to time, I head off the idea of ​​a so-called positive credit register. Recently, the topic was raised in public discussion by Juska Roska, CEO of Samen Asiamastietro, and Rekka Matini, CEO of Sanbuan Consumer Finance, in the Guest Pen column of Helbert Senomat 5.1. in his published paper. The authors present their views on the problems of the current situation and the possibilities of a positive credit register to prevent debt problems.

A positive credit register would gather real-time information on a consumer’s overall debt situation, so that the existing debt of the borrower could actually be compared to the credit granted. This would better guarantee the accountability of lending and thus improve the consumer’s position as a debtor.

The payment default entry says too little, too late

Lending companies, of course, already have a negative credit register in place, where a consumer finds credit when they find the entry. However, a register like this one does not reveal the consumer’s debt burden, but only the part of the debt that has already advanced. Indeed, the default payment signal is often just the tip of the iceberg and an unfortunate late signal of possible over-indebtedness. At its worst, the consumer has had time to collect debt from various sources for several months before the default order appears to alert lenders to the default of that person. Due to the long delay in credit information entry, the lender is not even in a position to react in time, even if the consumer already owes a lot of debt to his or her neck when applying for credit. Roska and Matini declare in their writing the weaknesses of the negative credit register the very late and one-sided nature of information.

The default payment stops the debt cycle at that time, but usually milk is already in the country at this stage in the case of over-indebtedness. A positive credit register, on the other hand, would help to reduce the risk of over-indebtedness, as the development of the consumer’s debt burden could be assessed separately with each credit application.

Loan application processes will be automated and information digitized

even so, the introduction of an electronic register of consumer debt information would only be a natural step. Already now, everyone’s tax information is by law public, but it is somewhat controversial that the law prohibits the compilation of an electronic register of tax information, for example, to help lenders. Still, the only way to verify the information provided by the borrower about their income and debts is to ask them for a written tax certificate. In the electronic age, this kind of paper war seems unnecessary and causes extra work for both parties.

A positive credit record has multi-dimensional positive effects

Statistics show that the payment default records of Finns in recent years have come close to the highest figures since the previous recession. Therefore, it would be high time to switch to a system that would also see the authors behind the credit history information early enough. A positive credit register is already in use in most European countries and, according to international economic experts, increased transparency has only improved the reliability of creditworthiness assessment, as also noted in the above-mentioned article in Helbert Senomat.

At present, therefore, lenders have virtually no opportunity to know what kind of debt the borrower has to bear, which in turn generally forces them to raise the cost of credit – a consequence that once again feels in the consumer’s pocket. A positive credit register would reduce the risk to the lender and possibly also the cost of the loans over time. It would also undoubtedly be in the interests of the consumer to keep up to date with all his commitments through the register. “The real problem with over-indebtedness is that the consumer can repair his economy by constantly taking on new debt from several lenders,” Roska and Matini summarize in their essay, Helbert Senomat.

It is never in the interests of the lender or the consumer

In particular, to grant credit to a person who is actually insolvent, with costs ultimately falling on the debtor. Overdebtedness is a penalty, which is a barrier not only to obtaining a loan but also to obtaining a rental home, for example. So far, good credit practice is challenging to put into practice, as lenders lack appropriate tools for monitoring. A positive credit register would facilitate the implementation of good lending practice in accordance with the letter of the law and would allow the stumbling block to the invisible debt problem.

What happens if you find yourself at a golden opportunity like this, for example, to attend an interesting training that you expect all year long but do not have enough money to attend? What are you going to do? Will you miss this chance?

Realizing that some options are too good to pass up, you try to borrow from a nearby bank to cover the fee and travel expenses. You have previous experience with a credit card, but it’s not that profitable. Now what? What are the options?

The dilemma

Fast money can be a powerful tool that opens doors and leads to more opportunities. But how do you handle and seize opportunities when you have a bad credit record?

How do you swim and move forward?

The welcome alternative

So you have a bad CCR? No problem. Yes, right, in such cases there are fast online loans. You may have experienced difficulties in the past and there is nothing wrong with that.

Meet Seratum. We often lend fast loans to people with credit history.

Positive start

We understand that lending is more than a financial transaction – it is a relationship built on trust and loyalty.

If you have bad credit and need money urgently to cover your running costs, it may be a good payday loan.

Applying for a Seratum loan is easy. Just visit Titania and fill out the online application form. The application takes a few minutes and once approved, you receive the money in the bank account you specified on the same day.

Reading laws is not a very popular activity, especially among impatient borrowers. However, each loan company is legally responsible during customer service. No one has observed the sanabanks legally.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has bypassed the short-term loans sector for many years, despite a lot of information about bankruptcies caused by usury commitments. Gradually, however, the sanabank market entered the new legal norms. Many provisions refer specifically to the operation of private loan companies. What legal norms should be read before establishing serious cooperation with non-bank institutions?

Laws necessary for the borrower’s security

The Consumer Credit Act is one of the most important legal acts for borrowers. The Act optimizes the information obligations of sanabanks. Thanks to the Consumer Credit Act, every borrower knows exactly how much he will pay for short-term payday loans. This is due to the introduction of the APRC indicator to information obligations.

The Consumer Credit Act also shows the shape of the short-term loan agreement. Knowledge of legal norms enables efficient comparison of information forms, contract templates, interest and non-interest costs, and even to a large extent marketing activities.

The Consumer Credit Act is not everything

Consumer Credit Act is not everything” />

The Anti-usury Act on limiting non-interest costs, especially excessive commissions, insurance costs, strange handling and debt collection fees is also gaining importance. Usual commitment, thanks to the anti-usury act, is practically a thing of the past, because non-interest cost limits have been imposed on sanabanks.

Even a low-economic borrower after signing a loan agreement will not be exposed to an aggressive takeover of family property. The anti-usury act also forces loan companies to introduce a minimum share capital of several thousand zlotys. This is practically a guarantee that small, emerging entities counting only on fast, dishonest earnings will simply disappear from the industry and will not threaten the interests of indebted households.

The Anti-usury Act also optimizes information issues very precisely. Now the cash loan agreement assumes properly full cost data, repayment dates, additional formalities, possible debt collection process and many other details. Setting up a sanabank is also a bit more difficult due to capital requirements.

What about comparing cash loans?

Optimization of legal norms and introduction of regulations regarding non-interest costs will limit the profit of many sanabanks, while reducing the pressure on comparing offers. The borrower will simply choose his favorite sanabank and keep in touch with him.

Interest and non-interest costs in minimally variable ranges will force the use of completely new marketing practices necessary to attract a new client payday loans. Fraud on the loan market is a real nightmare for those in debt. Losing property for small payday loans is a life tragedy. After many years of struggles between borrowers and lenders, the industry is being cleaned of dishonest entities. This is extremely good news.

Finally, a secure short-term loan market will guarantee stable income for honest non-bank institutions. How do you assess the legal changes introduced on the short-term loan market?

Debit card scamming and debugging of credit and debit card PINs have been on the agenda lately. These are just a few examples of payment card crime. In addition, news about the risks of online shopping has raised questions about secure online shopping and payment methods.

What Is Debit Card Skipping?

Good Finance debit card is a payment card data copying its simplicity.
The criminals install a so-called skimmer in the machine that copies the information on the card. Skimming comes from the English word skimming, which means copying a magnetic tape.

Skimmers are installed especially in cash dispensers, and now in Finland especially for unmanned gas stations. Good Finance is a professional criminal activity in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and now also in Finland.

What other ways are payment cards misused?

The four most common types of misuse of payment cards (including credit cards, debit cards, debit cards, and ATMs) are:

1. Pinching the PIN when you use the machine at the back, after which the customer is confused and the payment card is stolen. The debit card is then used to withdraw cash from an ATM.
2. The above-mentioned copying or Good Finance magnetic stripes EVENT card at ATMs – by copying bank cards from those designed to raise the cash, or use the card details on the internet.
3. Malware attempts to trickle down payment card numbers and identification information on the Internet. Credit cards are then used to order goods that are easy to convert into cash, or airline tickets, for example.
4. The copied card information is added to the genuine-looking credit card counterfeit, which is then used to make purchases in stores.

How to use debit card abuse? Watch the video for tips

Payment card crime has been on the rise for quite some time and is therefore increasingly important to take good care of your payment card. Watch our video on how to secure a debit card – make sure you know at least these tips!

Tips for protecting your payment card

1. Use the land limit on the card. You can set up your card in Netbank only in Finland
2. Set a withdrawal limit in Netbank.
3. Keep your passcode carefully, never store it near the card.
4. Protect your pin with your hand as you enter the code.
5. Shop securely online – Shop only from well-known sites.
6. Monitor card events regularly. Often, criminals raise only small, unobtrusive sums at a time.

If you find something strange at the vending machine, contact the emergency number on the vending machine.

What is the Best, or Safest Credit Card?

If you do not already have a credit card or are considering purchasing one, we recommend that you carefully compare the options available on the market before making a purchase. You can compare all credit cards in our comparison, for example:

In our credit card comparison, you can easily find the best credit card for you. A lot of travelers may be interested in airports and travel insurance, which are combined with, for example, the Norwegian Bank credit card.

Have you always wondered who is taking those consumer loans? Well now it is clear, as we were working with Kopla, a customer understanding agency, on the attitude of Finns towards consumer credit.

There are many types of consumer loans and you can easily compare their features in our free loan comparison:

You can apply for a loan up to $ 50,000 in our comparisons. These loans are offered, for example, by Good Finance.

The study showed that consumer credit would most likely be sought:

• Male (77.4% would take consumer credit)
• 40-50 years old (94.1% would take consumer credit)
• Family-friendly (79.1% would take a consumer credit)
• Senior Clerk (84.2% would take consumer credit)
• Person earning more than € 40,000 a year in gross income (82.8% would take consumer credit)

Men are more willing to take consumer credit – Women are more cautious

In general, men were more positive about the use of consumer credit than women, especially for buying a new car. About a third of female respondents could not imagine taking consumer credit for any purpose.

Over a third of both men and women considered consumer credit an appropriate form of financing for renovation or decoration.

Over a third of both men and women considered consumer credit a suitable form of financing for renovation or decoration.

Families borrow for repairs or car rentals, for a lonely holiday

About half of those with a family would take consumer credit for renovation or decoration, or for the purchase of a car (39.5%). Remodeling was also the most popular way of using consumer credit for people living with a spouse / partner (29.6%). Individuals, on the other hand, prefer to finance their holiday with consumer credit (34.2%) slightly more than renovation or a car.

High income earners are more positive about consumer credit use

positive about consumer credit use” />

Income also influenced the attitude towards consumer credit. Up to 82.2% of those earning less than € 40,000 a year could take out consumer credit, while 42.1% of those earning less than € 20,000 could not imagine taking a consumer loan.

Of the average income earners of € 30- $ 40,000 a year, 40% could not even imagine taking a consumer loan, although almost half saw a consumer loan as a good way to finance a renovation.

There are differences between professional groups in the use of consumer credit.

Senior employees were the most favored with consumer credit, especially for renovation loans (63.2%) or car loans (52.6%), compared to lower salaries and employees, on average only one-third had taken or would take consumer credit.

About a third of students would take consumer credit for a larger purchase. However, more than 40% of students would not take consumer credit for any purpose.

Getting a loan or credit card is almost always conditional on sound credit history. What is credit history and how do you know if it is correct? In this guide, we’ll tell you how credit information works, how credit information can be lost, and what can be affected by a default.

What is Credit Information?

Credit information is used to assist the risks of a lender granting a loan to the applicant as well as how solid the client’s finances are. By reviewing your credit history, the lender seeks to manage credit risks to avoid credit losses and to anticipate potential problems.

Our loan comparison shows how likely a loan application is to be approved:

For example, when applying for a loan or credit card, the lender will look at the applicant’s creditworthiness. Creditworthiness refers to a person’s ability to repay his debt. It is influenced by eg annual revenue and any default payment entries.

Usually, a credit entry will result in your loan application being automatically rejected. However, there are service providers that also lend to the creditless under certain conditions. One such is Good Finance company. You can get a loan from Good Finance even if you have a credit note. However, in this case, the subscription must not be new and must be paid in full.

How can I avoid credit information entry?

For many, there will certainly be times when there is no money to pay all the bills. In such cases, it is advisable for the consumer to contact the lender and arrange a payment with a new schedule in order to avoid credit information entry. Late payment of an invoice or passage of a parking defect payment, for example, does not in itself give rise to a credit note.

The creditor may file a default credit entry in the Credit Register provided that the invoice is at least 60 days past due date and no new payment agreement has been concluded between the creditor and the debtor to pay the invoice. The creditor must have sent a written request for payment to the debtor at least 21 days prior to the disclosure of the defect entry.

Can I get an unnoticed credit note?

In some cases, however, a creditor may report a person’s default to Good Finance in the event of non-payment of a consumer credit or installment contract. In this case, however, the consumer credit agreement shall include a statement that the credit record holder has the right to disclose the defaults.

The timely payment of consumer credit agreements such as credit card invoice or instant credit agreement is of paramount importance, as failure to pay these bills can result in credit information entry without notice to the customer. When concluding a consumer credit agreement, it is important to take this opportunity into consideration and it is advisable for the consumer to read the agreement very carefully in order to be familiar with all aspects of the contract. In particular, rates on quick loans may be small print on contracts, so it is advisable to read the credit agreement carefully.

Even if the consumer does not have a credit reference, companies may have their own internal default payment records that can be entered without their knowledge. For example, they can register a week’s late payment and use this information with a company in the same group, for example, when approving a new loan application.

How do I check my credit history?

You can check your credit information free of charge using the statutory review right once a year. Credit information is verified by sending a free form written request or a printed and completed form by fax or post to the Finnish Customer Information. The request must be accompanied by your home address, personal identification number, signature and name, and a copy of the Customer Information Notification Letter or a copy of the personalized identity document bearing the signature.