On March 20th we sent to letters, one to the DG Justice and Consumers, the other to the Financial Sector. In a formal and polite letter we were told to be more specific in regards to what we asked of the commissioner, Didier Reynders. Today, three and a half weeks later we have written a formal letter to Didier Reynders asking him to forward our letter to the Financial Sector to the members of the fianncial sector be it banks, investment firms, money lenders etc. The letter to the Financial Sector asks them to first of all show flexibility when their clients face financial trouble, secondly it asks them to show responsibility and help those who experience a sudden drop in income, thirdly we ask them to cooperate with debt relief organisation, and lastly, we ask them that they show leniency in this time of crisis and consider accepting partial defaults on payments until people are back on their feet again. The Letter was co-signed by 22 members of the ECDN from 14 countries across Europe.

The letter to Commissioner reynders also contains policy suggestions, which are meant to ensure the Consumers’ rights by obligating EU members to maintain a system of  out-of-court debt settlements, that these out-of-court debt settlements are based on formalissed cooperation between creditors’ associations and debt relief organisations and more. We, at the ECDN, considers these proposals of the utmost importance if we want to protect the consumers both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can read our letter to the Financial Sector Here.

You can read the letter to Commissioner Reynders Here.