No abstract available / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

The topic of the thesis is to analyze the debt of Czech households from 1993 to 2012. The main goal is to map the development of indebtedness of Czech households in these years and to discuss the reasons of increasing Czech households debt mainly including drop in inflation and interest rates, the desire of the population for their own living and the tendency towards the consumer life despite the decrease in growth of indebtedness of households till 2009. The thesis tries to answer the question whether Czech households are over indebted and whether they are threatened by falling into a debt trap. Although the increments of debt were considerable in the recent years, in the international comparison the indebtedness of Czech households is very low and the fall to a debt trap is not actual because the majority of loans are used for purchase of real estate. The risk is represented by substantial growth of interest rates, prices of real estate and increase in the unemployment rate together with low economic performance. In conclusion, the thesis tries to formulate the disposal against over indebtedness. As one of the most effective implement is considered the increase in financial literacy of wider population and the change of social atmosphere in which the debt was perceived least risky.

Swedish households are borrowing like never before: the debt to income ratio, consumption loans and the amount of debt registered with the Swedish Enforcement Authority have been steadily increasing over the last decade. Meanwhile, life-changing events such as unemployment, divorce and sickness have been identified as drivers of over-indebtedness. The objective of this thesis is to establish whether there is a link between life-changing events and the level of debt with the SEA on the aggregate level. The data comes from various Swedish government agencies between 2010 – 2019. The method applied is a population weighted Ordinary Least Square model with time and municipality fixed effects. The results indicate that an increase in unemployment and divorce rates correlate with an average increase in the share of the population indebted to the Swedish Enforcement Authority. This applies to both men and women, but the association is stronger for men.

The master's thesis "Over-indebtedness of Young Generation in the Czech Republic" deals with over-indebtedness of individuals at the age of 18 to 26 years. Over-indebtedness is a general social problem as all age groups get overburdened with debt. However, it is important to focus on the issue of young people's over-indebtedness directly because the young generation represents people who are or will be active in the general working process. The authoress of the thesis points out the young generation's over-indebtedness and provides an overview of development of this issue in 2008 - 2015. She also examines the most frequent causes which she has found out using questionnaires and data collected. In her work, the authoress also outlines a gradual development of possible indebtedness, which primarily includes loans, from both banks and other institutions, followed by a court procedure and execution of the judgement. A possible solution to over-indebtedness then consists in filing a petition with a court to permit a personal discharge from debts. The work aims at finding out and examining development of the young generation's indebtedness in the Czech Republic, analysing causes of over-indebtedness, describing the changes of the causes in time and at analysing the process of discharge from debts, which...

Consumer credit is seen as a matter of course and an essential precondition enabling the individual consumer to allocate in a smooth manner his or her income to varying expenses, and allowing the growth-rate to increase in society. The consumer community using different forms of credit has increased and includes today a diversity of social groups such as the elderly, children, the rich and the poor. Credit is not just a good thing, however, as it involves risks of failing to fulfill the credit contract obligations. The point of departure for the thesis is that over-indebtedness constitutes a problem which society wishes to solve because it causes considerable difficulties for both individuals and society as a whole. Numerous rules govern loans in Sweden, from the moment the consumer contemplates entering into a credit contract to the moment when the consumer is too indebted to repay the debt when due and must seek debt-repayment-plan modification. The thesis examines and analyses which consumer protections against overindebtedness emerge from these rules. The study shows that the regulatory measures adopted in recent years are similar to each other and mostly consist of rules protecting the consumer before a credit contract is concluded. Although the purpose of other existing rules addressing the last phase of the credit process is to protect the consumer who miscalculated his or her future economic circumstances, the protection is overall weak. In fact some of the rules in the last phase of the credit process can contribute to aggravating the consumer’s economic situation.

Consumer credit has become a common source of finance for households, inevitable for the majority of them. Developments of credit markets that emerged as a result of economic hardship in 2008-2009, leads to the high relevance of the scientific researches on the topic. Traditional consumer loans provided by banks or credit unions are supplemented by the new debt instruments. The most popular and well known ones are payday loans (small amount, short term and high cost loans), having the high credit price (in APR terms) and are easily accessible. Because of such rapid growth and popularity of payday loans among socially vulnerable borrowers, these transactions became the object of regulation. The regulator here faces a very complex task - to balance the interests of the payday loan transaction parties (borrower and lender) throughout the process of the transaction. In the Baltic States, including Lithuania, payday lending transactions and their regulation is a well underexplored field of scientific research. Analysis of the scientific literature has revealed that there is a general disagreement on whether payday loans benefit or harm borrowers? Usually studies does not provide complete answer on how to regulate payday lending transactions in order to ensure access to credit and balance the interests of creditors and debtors. No one has offered a model of payday lending transactions regulation yet. Moreover, there is no generally established view on the balance of borrowers’ and... [to full text] / Vartojimo kreditavimas yra įprastas namų ūkių poreikių finansavimo šaltinis, neišvengiamas daugeliui jų. Kreditavimo rinkos pokyčiai, atsiradę ekonomikos sunkmečio laikotarpiu 2008-2009 metais, lemia ypatingai didelį šios tematikos mokslinių tyrimų aktualumą. Tradicines bankų ar kredito unijų teikiamas vartojimo paskolas papildė nauji skolinimo instrumentai, tarp kurių populiarūs ir žinomi – mažieji vartojimo kreditai, pasižymintys aukšta palūkanų norma ir lengvu prieinamumu. Dėl mažųjų vartojimo kreditų populiarumo tarp socialiai pažeidžiamų asmenų ir augimo, šie sandoriai tapo reguliavimo objektu. Reguliuotojui čia kyla sudėtingas uždavinys subalansuoti reguliavimo objekto – mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandorio šalių (skolininko ir kreditoriaus) interesus šio sandorio proceso metu. Baltijos šalyse, įskaitant ir Lietuvoje, mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandoriai ir jų reguliavimas yra visiškai mokslininkų netyrinėtas reiškinys.Mokslinės literatūros analizė parodė, kad tyrėjai nesutaria ar visumoj mažieji vartojimo kreditai labiau padeda vartotojams, ar yra jiems labiau žalingi. Dažnai moksliniai tyrimai neatsako į klausimą - kaip reguliuoti mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandorius, kad būtų užtikrintas kredito prieinamumas ir subalansuota skolininko bei kreditorių interesų apsauga. Mokslinėje literatūroje nėra pasiūlyto mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandorių reguliavimo modelio, nėra nusistovėjusio požiūrio į priešingų skolininko ir kreditorių interesų balansavimą ar mažojo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Vartojimo kreditavimas yra įprastas namų ūkių poreikių finansavimo šaltinis, neišvengiamas daugeliui jų. Kreditavimo rinkos pokyčiai, atsiradę ekonomikos sunkmečio laikotarpiu 2008-2009 metais, lemia ypatingai didelį šios tematikos mokslinių tyrimų aktualumą. Tradicines bankų ar kredito unijų teikiamas vartojimo paskolas papildė nauji skolinimo instrumentai, tarp kurių populiarūs ir žinomi – mažieji vartojimo kreditai, pasižymintys aukšta palūkanų norma ir lengvu prieinamumu. Dėl mažųjų vartojimo kreditų populiarumo tarp socialiai pažeidžiamų asmenų ir augimo, šie sandoriai tapo reguliavimo objektu. Reguliuotojui čia kyla sudėtingas uždavinys subalansuoti reguliavimo objekto – mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandorio šalių (skolininko ir kreditoriaus) interesus šio sandorio proceso metu. Baltijos šalyse, įskaitant ir Lietuvoje, mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandoriai ir jų reguliavimas yra visiškai mokslininkų netyrinėtas reiškinys.Mokslinės literatūros analizė parodė, kad tyrėjai nesutaria ar visumoj mažieji vartojimo kreditai labiau padeda vartotojams, ar yra jiems labiau žalingi. Dažnai moksliniai tyrimai neatsako į klausimą - kaip reguliuoti mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandorius, kad būtų užtikrintas kredito prieinamumas ir subalansuota skolininko bei kreditorių interesų apsauga. Mokslinėje literatūroje nėra pasiūlyto mažojo vartojimo kreditavimo sandorių reguliavimo modelio, nėra nusistovėjusio požiūrio į priešingų skolininko ir kreditorių interesų balansavimą ar mažojo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Consumer credit has become a common source of finance for households, inevitable for the majority of them. Developments of credit markets that emerged as a result of economic hardship in 2008-2009, leads to the high relevance of the scientific researches on the topic. Traditional consumer loans provided by banks or credit unions are supplemented by the new debt instruments. The most popular and well known ones are payday loans (small amount, short term and high cost loans), having the high credit price (in APR terms) and are easily accessible. Because of such rapid growth and popularity of payday loans among socially vulnerable borrowers, these transactions became the object of regulation. The regulator here faces a very complex task - to balance the interests of the payday loan transaction parties (borrower and lender) throughout the process of the transaction. In the Baltic States, including Lithuania, payday lending transactions and their regulation is a well underexplored field of scientific research. Analysis of the scientific literature has revealed that there is a general disagreement on whether payday loans benefit or harm borrowers? Usually studies does not provide complete answer on how to regulate payday lending transactions in order to ensure access to credit and balance the interests of creditors and debtors. No one has offered a model of payday lending transactions regulation yet. Moreover, there is no generally established view on the balance of borrowers’ and... [to full text]

The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding and awareness of what the pathways into and out of debt problems can look like, why people get into bad debt situations, how problems are handled and how they are perceived. The empirical data is based on semi-structured narrative interviews with 32 people who can relate to a debt settlement in three ways, either by just having applied for a debt settlement, finding themselves in the midst of a debt settlement or being debt-free since a few years back. The material is analyzed in terms relating to the processes, strategies and impact factors surrounding debt problems and debt settlements. Debt problems can either happen slowly and gradually or arise suddenly and unexpectedly. The causes may be an interaction between individual and structural factors. Both coping strategies and influencing factors can change over time and depend on where in the debt process one is. The results show that the coping strategies vary from active to passive, from open to closed, where the determining factors are mainly how one was treated/ received, one's health, age, sense of shame and guilt, social relationships, as well as the causes of debt.  The results show how there is interplay between individual and structural factors in terms of causes, but also in the strategies and approaches expressed. The coping strategies are influenced and changed with the time scale over the debt process. Women have a risk to a greater extent than men to suffer from debt problems without having spent any money, but instead by acting as co-signer or guarantor. The conclusion is that debt problems do not just affect a certain group of individuals, but that anyone can in principle be affected by excessive debt. What becomes clear is that there is not only one but several ways into and out of debt problems in which both individual and structural factors are important. Although there is a way out of excessive debt problems through debt relief law, results show that the solution extends over time and has far-reaching consequences for both individuals and society.

O endividamento excessivo dos indivíduos e das famílias é um fenômeno recente que tem sua origem na necessidade da economia de mercado conferir poder aquisitivo imediato a seu principal agente econômico: o consumidor. Desde o final do século XX, o crédito se tornou o motor propulsor da sociedade de consumo, de maneira que o endividamento se tornou uma situação desejada, mas que, por outro lado, apresenta riscos aos consumidores, que ficaram sujeitos ao superendividamento. A democratização do crédito chegou ao Brasil apenas no século XXI, apresentando-se como a principal ameaça à integridade financeira do consumidor. O incentivo governamental para tornar o crédito mais acessível e a criação de novos instrumentos de crédito foram os principais fatores responsáveis pela guinada do crédito ao consumo. Contudo, a ausência de uma rede eficaz de proteção ao consumidor pode trazer graves problemas sociais e a violação de direitos fundamentais dos tomadores de crédito. Esse cenário já se verificou em muitos países que tiveram a sua revolução do crédito ao consumo, gerando uma multidão de superendividados passivos, que passou a viver à margem da sociedade, ocasionando um forte problema de exclusão social. Nesses países, que tem a França como exemplo, foi adotada uma lei específica para a prevenção e tratamento do sobreendividamento, reconhecendo-se que essa situação não é prejudicial apenas para o consumidor, mas também para todo o mercado de consumo, podendo dar origem a uma grave crise financeira generalizada. No Brasil não existe uma lei específica para o tratamento das situações de sobreendividamento, de forma a proporcionar a recuperação financeira global do consumidor; contudo, o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro contém diversas normas, por meio das quais incidem os direitos fundamentais da pessoa humana, que são capazes de tutelar os direitos dos consumidores de crédito, inclusive nas situações de superendividamento. Este trabalho pretende, num primeiro momento, demonstrar a necessidade de uma lei específica para o tratamento global da situação do consumidor superendividado, e, num segundo momento, desenvolver a tutela jurídica de lege lata para a proteção do consumidor de crédito em geral e para a solução dos casos de endividamento excessivo em que esteja ameaçado o núcleo dos direitos fundamentais decorrentes da dignidade da pessoa humana. / The over-indebtedness of households is a recent phenomenon which has its origins in the need of market economies to confer purchasing power to its main economic agent: the consumer. Since the end of the 20th Century, credit has become the main propeller of consumer societies, making indebtedness a desirable situation. Such a situation, though, presents risks to consumers, who became subjected to over-indebtedness. The credit democratization has reached Brazil only in the 21st Century, presenting itself as the main threat to the consumers financial integrity. The governmental incentive to make credit affordable and the creation of new instruments of credit were the main factors responsible for the growth of consumer credit. However, the lack of an effective consumer protection net may bring about serious social problems and the violation of borrowers fundamental rights. This context took place in many countries where the credit revolution has happened generating a multitude of passive over-indebted people, which are living on the margins of society, causing a serious problem of social exclusion. In these countries, as France for example, a specific law was adopted for the prevention and handling of over-indebtedness, in recognition that this situation is prejudicial not only to the consumer, but also to the whole market, being able to cause even a severe generalized financial crisis. Brazil doesnt have a specific bankruptcy law to provide financial rehabilitation for the over-indebted consumer. However, Brazilian law has many rules through which fundamental rights are applied providing consumers judicial protection, including situations of over-indebtedness. This essay intends, firstly, to demonstrate the necessity of a specific bankruptcy law for the global handling of over-indebtedness situations and, secondly, to develop the judicial treatment de lege lata for the protection of the consumer credit in general and for over-indebtedness situations where the core of fundamental rights is threatened.

A presente dissertação de mestrado serve para refletir acerca das questões concernentes à crise financeira mundial, as modificações legislativas acerca da regulação do crédito ao consumidor e o os novos deveres das instituições financeiras diante de tal cenário. Considerando a necessidade urgente de uma regulação mundial, seja nacional ou em blocos econômicos, acerca do fenômeno do superendividamento, valemo-nos de exemplos de outros países para buscar uma conexão possível, considerando a cultura da sociedade de consumo, leis vigentes e necessidades específicas, entre os deveres dos consumidores e, principalmente, das instituições financeiras. Se o consumidor brasileiro paga atualmente as maiores taxas de juros no mundo, com a justificativa do mercado que tal prática é reflexo de sua inadimplência, deve-se atentar para a razão de tal inadimplência. A inadimplência do consumidor, muitas vezes o levando ao superendividamento, é um reflexo tanto da cultura do imediatismo, fomentada pela publicidade, quanto da ausência de limites e informações adequadas à este consumidor quando da concessão do crédito, o levando a subestimar os riscos da operação. O consumidor não tendo conhecimento necessário para gerir sua vida financeira, ao receber ofertas de crédito com informações deficientes, incompletas, obscuras e até mesmo com ilusões que rodeiam apenas seus benefícios e não seus riscos, é um forte candidato ao superendividamento. Muito embora existam muitas ações, tanto no Brasil quanto no mundo, para tratamento do superendividamento, buscando a ressocialização do consumidor na sociedade, devemos preocupar-nos igualmente com a prevenção deste superendividado, que deve ser realizada com a tomada da responsabilidade [neste sentido como um dever, uma postura a ser adotada pela instituição financeira previamente] no sentido de qualificar seus prepostos a igualmente terem condições de informar, clara e adequadamente, o consumidor dos riscos e benefícios do crédito. Para tanto, analisaremos alguns pressupostos que permeiam nossas hipóteses, passando no primeiro capítulo pelos benefícios e riscos do crédito e, no segundo capítulo, abordando os contratos por adesão, os princípios que norteiam tais pactos, especialmente a boa-fé, chegando ao dever geral de informação, o qual abrigaria o dever de informação formal como esclarecimento, o aconselhamento e advertência, passando igualmente pela necessidade de um prazo de reflexão ao consumidor como condutor de tais deveres. / The present dissertation serves to reflect on the issues that concerned the global financial crisis, the legislative changes regarding the regulation of consumer credit and the new duties of financial institutions faced with this scenario. Considering the urgent need of global regulation, whether national or in economic blocks, around the phenomenon of over-indebtedness, we may use examples from other countries to seek a possible connection, considering the culture of the consumer society, laws and specific needs between the consumers duties and especially, the financial institutions. If the Brazilian consumer currently pays the highest interest rates in the world, with the market justification that such practice is a reflection of its own default, we should look for the reason of such default. The consumer default, often leading him to over-indebtedness, is both a reflection from the culture of immediacy, fostered by advertising, and the absence of limits and suitableinformation for the consumer when granting credit, leading to underestimate the risks of this operation .When consumers do not have the knowledge to manage their financial lives, andreceives credit offers with disabilitiesinformation, incomplete, unclear and even illusions that surround only its benefits and not its risks, became a strong candidate for over- indebtedness. Although there are many actions, both in Brazil and around the world for over-indebtedness treatment, seeking the consumer rehabilitation in the consumer society, we must also concern ourselves about the over-indebtedness prevention, which should be performed with taking responsibility [in this sense as a duty, an attitude to be adopted by the financial institution previously] in order to qualify their agents and also having the conditions to inform clearly and properly, the risks and benefits of consumer credit. To do so, we are going to analyze some assumptions that permeate our chances, passing in the first chapter of the benefits and risks of credit and, in the second chapter, addressing the adhesion contracts, the principles guiding such pacts, especially the good faith, even to the general information duty , which would protect the duty as formal clarification of information, advice and warning, by also passing for theconsumer period for reflection as a driver of such duties.