§ 3-34. Information about credit agreements

This section applies to credit agreements (Chapter 5) and gives a detailed list of what the customer must be told before the agreement. The list covers, among other things, what kind of credit it is, how large an amount is available, the effective interest rate with an illustrative example, the instalments and any conditions regarding payment protection insurance or other ancillary services. The customer must also be told what late payment can cost, whether there is a risk that part of the loan will remain even when the agreement is followed, and whether the lender requires security.

The last item on the list concerns objections (claims that something is wrong with the purchase). Under § 2-7, a consumer (forbruker) who buys something with credit from someone other than the seller can raise the same objections and monetary claims against the lender as against the seller, if the credit is provided under an agreement between the seller and the lender. The consumer must notify the lender at the first reasonable opportunity, and the lender's liability is limited to the credit amount the consumer received in connection with the purchase.

The rest of the section deals with special cases. For overdraft facilities (credit linked to an account), the requirements about conditions for use, cash price and instalments do not apply, but when the credit is to be repaid on demand, the customer must be told that the lender may at any time demand the entire amount back. For foreign currency loans, the information must be given both in the loan's currency and in the currency into which the loan can be converted. Under § 5-12, a consumer can demand to have the loan converted into a currency in which they had their main income or assets at the time of the last credit assessment (kredittvurdering), and must be notified in writing when exchange rate movements have shifted the loan or the instalments by more than 20 percent. For mortgages, the lender must state whether advice is offered.

This section must be read together with § 3-28 on costs and with § 3-35, which requires that the credit information for Chapters 5 and 6 be given in a standardised form. Guarantors (kausjonister) have their own information requirements in § 3-36, and for offers made during a telephone call there are separate requirements in § 3-39.