O superendividamento do consumidor é uma realidade preocupante da sociedade atual. A prevenção é um dos mais eficazes meios de se combater esse problema social. A informação, já consagrada como direito básico dos consumidores no artigo 6º, III, do CDC, torna-se ainda mais importante nesse contexto. Os contratos de crédito têm por característica sua complexidade, sendo extremamente difícil ao consumidor leigo entendê-los e compreendêlos. Prazos, taxas, juros, capitalização de juros, comissão de permanência, multas, contratos conexos, tudo isso se torna um emaranhado indecifrável ao consumidor. Dessa forma, acredita-se que o efetivo cumprimento do dever de informar das instituições financeiras nos contratos de crédito é um meio eficaz de prevenir o superendividamento do consumidor. A presente dissertação de mestrado analisa as fontes e a dimensão que alcança o dever de informar das instituições financeiras no contexto pré-contratual dos contratos de crédito, frente às causas do superendividamento do consumidor, pretendendo averiguar se é possível a prevenção do superendividamento através da informação e, se positivo, como será possível e quais os limites que comporta. Assim, analisar-se-á a legislação atual para examinar se é suficiente à adequada proteção do consumidor, procurando investigar como a doutrina e a jurisprudência brasileira estão tratando do assunto. Após, analisar-se-á o Projeto de Lei do Senado nº283/2012, que propõe a atualização do Código de Defesa do Consumidor, inserindo capítulo destinado à prevenção e tratamento do superendividamento do consumidor, procurando examinar se a proposta legislativa avança nas medidas de prevenção do superendividamento através da imposição de um dever de informar mais rigoroso às instituições financeiras. / The consumer’s over-indebtedness is a worrying reality of the today’s society. Preventing it is one of the most effective ways of combating this social issue. The information, already established as a basic right of consumers under article 6th, III, of Brazilian Consumer Defence Code, turns up to be even more important in this context. The credit agreements have as feature their complexity, being extremely hard to the lay consumer to understand and to comprehend it. Terms, rates, interests, interest capitalization, continuity commission, fines, related contracts, all this becomes an indecipherable tangle to the consumer. Thus, it is believed that the effective execution of the duty to inform of the financial institutions in the credit agreements is an efficient way to prevent the consumer’s over-indebtedness. The present master’s dissertation analyzes the sources and the dimension that the duty to inform of financial institutions reaches in the pre-contractual context of the credit agreements, facing the causes of consumer’s over-indebtedness, aiming to ascertain if it is possible to prevent the over-indebtedness through information and, if positive, how is it achievable and which are the limits. Thereby, the current legislation will be analyzed to examine if it is enough to the appropriate consumer’s protection, seeking to investigate how the Brazilian doctrine and jurisprudence are handling the subject. Thereupon, the Senate proposed bill n. 283/2012 will be analyzed. This bill proposes the update of Brazilian Consumer Defence Code, inserting a chapter headed for prevention and treatment of consumer’s over-indebtedness. The proposed bill will be examined to verify if it makes progress in the measures to prevent overindebtedness through the imposition of a stricter duty to inform to financial institutions.

<p>The subject of sms-loans is examined by using primary and secondary sources’. This form of credit is formally independent from other obligations with a very short credit period and the amount of the loan is low. This form of credits is applied by mobile phones and on the internet by several companies, some of them are presented in this essay. These type of creditors do not come under any sanctions from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as is customary for other creditors, they only need to register. Within the consumer credit legislation from 1992 there are some exceptions in the 5a, 6 and 9 §§ concerning credit rating, information and agreements in writing. These exceptions are the reasons that make sms-loans possible. The current legislation on this subject is identified and the exceptions are further explained in the essay. Within this type of credit the consumer protection differs from other types of loans with higher credit amounts. This is also due to the exceptions within the law. The current consumer credit legislation is based on a council directive from 1987, where it is optional for the member states to include these exceptions or not in their legislation. The legislator in Sweden adopted these exceptions, as they did not predict any risk of over indebtedness. In the law-making process documented in the government bill 1991/92:83, this risk was considered as non-existent, although this risk of over indebtedness was observed by the Swedish Consumer Agency and the Swedish Enforcement Authority. The statistics of the official non-payment notices confirms this observation. These authorities and the non-governmental organisation, The Swedish Consumers’ Association, have since 2006 and onwards been pushing for a change of the legislation according to the abrogation of the exceptions. Within several official publications the complexity of sms-loans are described, such as the lack of consumer protection and the risk of over indebtedness. The Swedish Consumer Agency is the supervising authority regarding this legislation field, and the companies providing sms-loans. When the Agency discharges one’s official duties, the Marketing Act is the legislation in use. The Swedish Market Court has convicted creditors, but none of the verdicts were related to the exceptions. The lack of consumer protection is also noticed in the EU, and a new council directive was adopted in 2008. This has now been implemented into a memorandum and the appurtenant draft bill. The intention with this bill is to enforce the consumer protection and to reduce the risk of over indebtedness, when consumers obtain credit. This bill is intended to become effective at 1 of January 2011.     </p>

The subject of sms-loans is examined by using primary and secondary sources’. This form of credit is formally independent from other obligations with a very short credit period and the amount of the loan is low. This form of credits is applied by mobile phones and on the internet by several companies, some of them are presented in this essay. These type of creditors do not come under any sanctions from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as is customary for other creditors, they only need to register. Within the consumer credit legislation from 1992 there are some exceptions in the 5a, 6 and 9 §§ concerning credit rating, information and agreements in writing. These exceptions are the reasons that make sms-loans possible. The current legislation on this subject is identified and the exceptions are further explained in the essay. Within this type of credit the consumer protection differs from other types of loans with higher credit amounts. This is also due to the exceptions within the law. The current consumer credit legislation is based on a council directive from 1987, where it is optional for the member states to include these exceptions or not in their legislation. The legislator in Sweden adopted these exceptions, as they did not predict any risk of over indebtedness. In the law-making process documented in the government bill 1991/92:83, this risk was considered as non-existent, although this risk of over indebtedness was observed by the Swedish Consumer Agency and the Swedish Enforcement Authority. The statistics of the official non-payment notices confirms this observation. These authorities and the non-governmental organisation, The Swedish Consumers’ Association, have since 2006 and onwards been pushing for a change of the legislation according to the abrogation of the exceptions. Within several official publications the complexity of sms-loans are described, such as the lack of consumer protection and the risk of over indebtedness. The Swedish Consumer Agency is the supervising authority regarding this legislation field, and the companies providing sms-loans. When the Agency discharges one’s official duties, the Marketing Act is the legislation in use. The Swedish Market Court has convicted creditors, but none of the verdicts were related to the exceptions. The lack of consumer protection is also noticed in the EU, and a new council directive was adopted in 2008. This has now been implemented into a memorandum and the appurtenant draft bill. The intention with this bill is to enforce the consumer protection and to reduce the risk of over indebtedness, when consumers obtain credit. This bill is intended to become effective at 1 of January 2011.

O superendividamento do consumidor é uma realidade preocupante da sociedade atual. A prevenção é um dos mais eficazes meios de se combater esse problema social. A informação, já consagrada como direito básico dos consumidores no artigo 6º, III, do CDC, torna-se ainda mais importante nesse contexto. Os contratos de crédito têm por característica sua complexidade, sendo extremamente difícil ao consumidor leigo entendê-los e compreendêlos. Prazos, taxas, juros, capitalização de juros, comissão de permanência, multas, contratos conexos, tudo isso se torna um emaranhado indecifrável ao consumidor. Dessa forma, acredita-se que o efetivo cumprimento do dever de informar das instituições financeiras nos contratos de crédito é um meio eficaz de prevenir o superendividamento do consumidor. A presente dissertação de mestrado analisa as fontes e a dimensão que alcança o dever de informar das instituições financeiras no contexto pré-contratual dos contratos de crédito, frente às causas do superendividamento do consumidor, pretendendo averiguar se é possível a prevenção do superendividamento através da informação e, se positivo, como será possível e quais os limites que comporta. Assim, analisar-se-á a legislação atual para examinar se é suficiente à adequada proteção do consumidor, procurando investigar como a doutrina e a jurisprudência brasileira estão tratando do assunto. Após, analisar-se-á o Projeto de Lei do Senado nº283/2012, que propõe a atualização do Código de Defesa do Consumidor, inserindo capítulo destinado à prevenção e tratamento do superendividamento do consumidor, procurando examinar se a proposta legislativa avança nas medidas de prevenção do superendividamento através da imposição de um dever de informar mais rigoroso às instituições financeiras. / The consumer’s over-indebtedness is a worrying reality of the today’s society. Preventing it is one of the most effective ways of combating this social issue. The information, already established as a basic right of consumers under article 6th, III, of Brazilian Consumer Defence Code, turns up to be even more important in this context. The credit agreements have as feature their complexity, being extremely hard to the lay consumer to understand and to comprehend it. Terms, rates, interests, interest capitalization, continuity commission, fines, related contracts, all this becomes an indecipherable tangle to the consumer. Thus, it is believed that the effective execution of the duty to inform of the financial institutions in the credit agreements is an efficient way to prevent the consumer’s over-indebtedness. The present master’s dissertation analyzes the sources and the dimension that the duty to inform of financial institutions reaches in the pre-contractual context of the credit agreements, facing the causes of consumer’s over-indebtedness, aiming to ascertain if it is possible to prevent the over-indebtedness through information and, if positive, how is it achievable and which are the limits. Thereby, the current legislation will be analyzed to examine if it is enough to the appropriate consumer’s protection, seeking to investigate how the Brazilian doctrine and jurisprudence are handling the subject. Thereupon, the Senate proposed bill n. 283/2012 will be analyzed. This bill proposes the update of Brazilian Consumer Defence Code, inserting a chapter headed for prevention and treatment of consumer’s over-indebtedness. The proposed bill will be examined to verify if it makes progress in the measures to prevent overindebtedness through the imposition of a stricter duty to inform to financial institutions.

O superendividamento do consumidor é uma realidade preocupante da sociedade atual. A prevenção é um dos mais eficazes meios de se combater esse problema social. A informação, já consagrada como direito básico dos consumidores no artigo 6º, III, do CDC, torna-se ainda mais importante nesse contexto. Os contratos de crédito têm por característica sua complexidade, sendo extremamente difícil ao consumidor leigo entendê-los e compreendêlos. Prazos, taxas, juros, capitalização de juros, comissão de permanência, multas, contratos conexos, tudo isso se torna um emaranhado indecifrável ao consumidor. Dessa forma, acredita-se que o efetivo cumprimento do dever de informar das instituições financeiras nos contratos de crédito é um meio eficaz de prevenir o superendividamento do consumidor. A presente dissertação de mestrado analisa as fontes e a dimensão que alcança o dever de informar das instituições financeiras no contexto pré-contratual dos contratos de crédito, frente às causas do superendividamento do consumidor, pretendendo averiguar se é possível a prevenção do superendividamento através da informação e, se positivo, como será possível e quais os limites que comporta. Assim, analisar-se-á a legislação atual para examinar se é suficiente à adequada proteção do consumidor, procurando investigar como a doutrina e a jurisprudência brasileira estão tratando do assunto. Após, analisar-se-á o Projeto de Lei do Senado nº283/2012, que propõe a atualização do Código de Defesa do Consumidor, inserindo capítulo destinado à prevenção e tratamento do superendividamento do consumidor, procurando examinar se a proposta legislativa avança nas medidas de prevenção do superendividamento através da imposição de um dever de informar mais rigoroso às instituições financeiras. / The consumer’s over-indebtedness is a worrying reality of the today’s society. Preventing it is one of the most effective ways of combating this social issue. The information, already established as a basic right of consumers under article 6th, III, of Brazilian Consumer Defence Code, turns up to be even more important in this context. The credit agreements have as feature their complexity, being extremely hard to the lay consumer to understand and to comprehend it. Terms, rates, interests, interest capitalization, continuity commission, fines, related contracts, all this becomes an indecipherable tangle to the consumer. Thus, it is believed that the effective execution of the duty to inform of the financial institutions in the credit agreements is an efficient way to prevent the consumer’s over-indebtedness. The present master’s dissertation analyzes the sources and the dimension that the duty to inform of financial institutions reaches in the pre-contractual context of the credit agreements, facing the causes of consumer’s over-indebtedness, aiming to ascertain if it is possible to prevent the over-indebtedness through information and, if positive, how is it achievable and which are the limits. Thereby, the current legislation will be analyzed to examine if it is enough to the appropriate consumer’s protection, seeking to investigate how the Brazilian doctrine and jurisprudence are handling the subject. Thereupon, the Senate proposed bill n. 283/2012 will be analyzed. This bill proposes the update of Brazilian Consumer Defence Code, inserting a chapter headed for prevention and treatment of consumer’s over-indebtedness. The proposed bill will be examined to verify if it makes progress in the measures to prevent overindebtedness through the imposition of a stricter duty to inform to financial institutions.

Es wird untersucht, ob kritische Ereignisse (z. B. Arbeitslosigkeit) bzw. ein durch kritische Ereignisse ausgelöster finanzieller Schock die Überschuldungswahrscheinlichkeit privater Haushalte signifikant erhöhen (Schockthese). Weiters wird getestet, ob der Effekt kritischer Ereignisse durch kostensparende Handlungen abgeschwächt werden kann (Copingthese) bzw. von der finanziellen und sozialen Ausgangssituation beeinflusst ist (Vulnerabilitätsthese). Datengrundlage sind österreichische Befragungsdaten (ECHP 1995 bis 2001; EU-SILC 2004 bis 2008), auf Basis derer Panel-Regressionsmodelle geschätzt werden. Für die untersuchten kritischen Ereignisse kann kein direkter Effekt auf die Überschuldungswahrscheinlichkeit nachgewiesen werden; sehr wohl aber wirkt sich ein finanzieller Schock signifikant aus. Die Evidenz für eine Gültigkeit der Copingthese ist schwach, aber auch nach Kontrolle unbeobachteter, zeitkonstanter Faktoren stabil. Schätzungen zur Überprüfung der Vulnerabilitätsthese zeigen je nach verwendetem Vulnerabilitätsindikator unterschiedliche Ergebnisse. Die Befunde unterstreichen die Komplexität des Entstehungszusammenhanges: Überschuldung kann weder ausschließlich auf das Konsumverhalten bzw. Kosten-Nutzen-Erwägungen der Haushalte, noch ausschließlich auf exogene Schocks zurückgeführt werden.

Microfinance, the provision of financial services to the poor, has been celebrated for its win-win proposition of reducing poverty while operating on a financially sustainable or even profitable basis. However, the industry has recently experienced several crises that have challenged both its financial sustainability and its social reputation. As a result, the focus of the microfinance sector on commercialization has given way to a new emphasis on client-focused products and services and on customer protection as the industry’s current priorities. Given the risks it implies both to the social impact of microfinance and to institutional sustainability, the main focus of the current client protection efforts in microfinance is on protecting borrowers against over-indebtedness. <p><p>However, customer protection efforts are struggling with a significant gap of knowledge about the prevalence, causes and consequences of over-indebtedness. There is no agreed definition or measurement of personal over-indebtedness. Especially, there is no appropriate definition for customer protection purposes and for the specific circumstances of microfinance. Existing over-indebtedness definitions mostly centre on default, thus avoiding portfolio quality problems for the lending institutions. They do not take into account that borrowers already experience severe consequences of over-indebtedness before reaching the stage of default. Findings on the empirical prevalence of over-indebtedness and on its causes and consequences may differ based on a definition that takes the borrowers’ over-indebtedness experiences and thus the customer protection perspective into account.<p><p>The first paper of this PhD develops an over-indebtedness definition that is suitable for customer protection purposes in the microfinance context. The definition is based on the sacrifices that microborrowers experience related to their loans. Working with the economics, psychology, and sociology literatures on both microfinance and consumer finance, the paper provides a conceptual analysis of the demand and supply side factors that cause over-indebtedness as well as the role of adverse economic shocks. The second paper reveals the broad spectrum of consequences that over-indebtedness can have on borrowers and on MFIs. It then reviews the empirical studies on over-indebtedness in the microfinance industry to date to shed light on the prevalence of over-indebtedness in microfinance. <p><p>In an empirical field research supported by the Independent Evaluation Department of KfW Entwicklungsbank and the Smart Campaign at ACCION’s Center for Financial Inclusion, the PhD applies the customer protection definition of over-indebtedness that results from the first paper to the microfinance market of Accra in Ghana. The third paper uses this unique database to pinpoint the prevalence of over-indebtedness in this market and analyse the debt experiences of microborrowers. In a second step, by means of a logistic regression of alternative measurements on the customer protection measurement of over-indebtedness, it provides empirical confirmation for the important differences between the risk management perspective on over-indebtedness and the customer protection point of view. <p><p>Finally, the fourth paper of the PhD tests socio-demographic and economic factors on the borrower level for their relationship to over-indebtedness. It sheds light on how the potential over-indebtedness causes that emerge from the analysis of paper 1 relate to the likelihood of a borrower being over-indebted. It also works with the primary database from Ghana and uses econometric regression methods to confirm to what extent theses potential causes of over-indebtedness relate to over-indebtedness in the given microfinance setting.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This work deals with the indebtedness of consumers. It examines the causes of the debotrs themselves. Based on a secondary analysis of past research in the area of financial literacy, consumer behavior, statistical data, but also of qualitative research in the form of case study seeks to answer the question why the debtor becomes the debtor, the extent to which the indebtedness and indebtedness viewed as rational behavior but also if the debtor is accompanied by rational reasoning or irrational behavior. It concludes that the debtor can not be considered entirely rational. Applied policy then the issue of over-indebtedness problem takes into account the irrational assumptions by the debtor only marginally and does not reflect as one of its main causes.

This work deals with the indebtedness of consumers. It examines the causes of the debotrs themselves. Based on a secondary analysis of past research in the area of financial literacy, consumer behavior, statistical data, but also of qualitative research in the form of case study seeks to answer the question why the debtor becomes the debtor, the extent to which the indebtedness and indebtedness viewed as rational behavior but also if the debtor is accompanied by rational reasoning or irrational behavior. It concludes that the debtor can not be considered entirely rational. Applied policy then the issue of over-indebtedness problem takes into account the irrational assumptions by the debtor only marginally and does not reflect as one of its main causes.

Secretaria do Planejamento e GestÃo / As from informations upon 111.123 active and retired state public workers from the executive power of the state of CearÃ, regarding to the month of April of 2012, and informations regarding to the payroll of the state public service, wag-es and discount values with monthly deduction from the payroll, this paper ana-lyzes the determinants of the likelihood of a public state worker to be indebted or over-indebted, taking into account that this second category is characteristi-cally indebted over the average of its group. Dual dependent variable models with probit theory are developed and the results show that in the functional cat-egory groups, the probability of indebtedness varies from 40 and 75 per cent, and the over-indebtedness varies from 27 and 75 per cent, which means a criti-cal financial situation of the state worker. / A partir de dados para 111.123 servidores pÃblicos estaduais ativos e aposentados do Poder Executivo do estado do CearÃ, com referÃncia em abril de 2012, e informaÃÃes referentes à folha de pagamento do serviÃo pÃblico estadual, remuneraÃÃo e valores de descontos com emprÃstimos consignados em folha de pagamento, esta dissertaÃÃo analisa os determinantes da probabilidade de um servidor pÃblico do estado estar endividado ou sobre-endividado, sendo esta Ãltima categoria caracterizada pela existÃncia de um endividamento acima da mÃdia de seu grupo. Modelos de variÃvel dependente binÃria com hipÃtese Probit sÃo desenvolvidos e os resultados permitem inferir que no conjunto das categorias funcionais, a propensÃo ao endividamento varia de 40% a 75% e ao sobre-endividamento varia de 27% a 75%, o que sinaliza uma situaÃÃo financeira crÃtica dos servidor estadual.