The Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, announced that the government will approve regulations this month that will limit interest on consumer loans. The measure aims to “protect consumers, avoid excessive spending” and, therefore, promote “the rights of consumers themselves”, as Cuerpo assured this Thursday in an interview with Cadena SER. Between the new regulations, a minimum period of 24 hours will be established between a firm offer and acceptance, so that the user can think about it.
The economic official clarified that the regulations will strengthen consumer protection in three dimensions. On the one hand, the objective is to improve transparency. The regulations will require that, when promoting quick credit, microcredit or credit cards, turning —credit cards that allow you to pay installments in exchange for higher interest—advertising cannot focus only on the speed of access to money, “but we try to get away from the rest of the conditions and that we are not led to error simply because of immediacy”
Secondly, Cuerpo explained that the new regulation, which transposes the European Consumer Credit Directive, will require that a firm offer be introduced and that its acceptance lasts a minimum period of 24 hours, with the aim of putting an end to impulsive purchases and having time “to internalize a very important decision.” The third and final dimension he mentioned, also relevant, is the possibility of meeting interests, “by limiting the costs of this type of product”, he concluded.
The body also advanced the introduction of new processes based on automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce bureaucratic burdens and streamline procedures for companies, with the aim of facilitating interaction with public administrations. “The idea is (…) a ChatGPT for pymes, or a Gemini (Google’s AI)”, gave the example of the minister, which allows companies to know which aid they can opt for and request it automatically, so that the AI generates a query eraser, as happens with the IRPF declaration.
Concerning the possibility that the Executive could approve new hypotheses, he was however cautious. “Now, as the President of the Government himself says, we are able to develop our investment and reform program in this context of presumed extension. We are not leaving, by hypothesis, to make the effort,” he declared after highlighting the good economic growth data. “Just by opening the shutter, we could decide this January 1, 2026 that (that) Spain experiences growth of around 1% or 1.1%. This is practically the task that will be entrusted to the entire euro zone for the whole year.”
The increasingly complicated access to the villa, however, remains a major concern, which Cuerpo defined as “the right of this legislator.” In this sense, he assured that the Government is acting on different fronts, from “the recomposition” of the social housing stock to the implementation of measures that accelerate the construction processes, from housing, for example with the creation of the new public company Casa 47, to covering “market failures”, such as difficult access for them. young people at the villa on the property.
“In addition to this, I believe that a reversal effort is necessary to rebuild the private sector, the supply side in our country, after more than a decade where the construction sector represents only 13% of GDP at 6%,” Cuerpo said. “This is the clearest explanation for this lack of reversal that has occurred over the past decade.
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