The Consumer Rights Protection Centre (CRPC) has imposed a fine of EUR 285,000 on consumer lending service provider DelfinGroup AS (hereinafter – the Company) for engaging in unfair commercial practices by insufficiently assessing borrowers’ creditworthiness.
While examining a consumer complaint regarding the Company’s creditworthiness assessment procedures, the CRPC established that information about the consumer’s existing financial obligations had been obtained from only one credit information bureau – Crefo Birojs AS. During its investigation, the CRPC confirmed that this was not an isolated case. Suspecting an infringement of the collective interests of consumers, the CRPC initiated administrative proceedings.
There are two credit information bureaus operating in Latvia – Credit Information Bureau AS and Crefo Birojs AS. The Consumer Rights Protection Law requires lenders to obtain information on consumers’ financial obligations from all credit information bureaus. While lenders may choose which bureau to cooperate with, they must ensure that the selected bureau obtains information from the other credit information bureaus on the lender’s behalf.
This requirement has been in force since 1 January 2019. The CRPC had already urged the Company in July 2020, and again in September 2020, to ensure that information was being obtained from all credit information bureaus.
An incomplete assessment of creditworthiness creates a risk that a consumer may be granted credit that should not have been approved given their income and existing financial obligations. This may lead to excessive debt burdens and financial hardship. Consequently, the Company engaged over an extended period in commercial practices that did not meet the standard of professional diligence, thereby significantly distorting consumers’ economic behaviour.
Having assessed the volume of loans issued by the Company, assigned claims, and loans written off as losses, it was concluded that the losses suffered by consumers may amount to at least EUR 2,140,496, while the maximum potential losses could reach EUR 21,404,957.
It is not possible to determine the exact number of affected consumers or the total amount of losses incurred. It cannot be ruled out that loans subject to inadequate creditworthiness assessments were also granted to consumers who are currently making payments on time or with only minor delays.
In view of these findings, the CRPC decided to impose a fine of EUR 285,000 on the Company. When determining the amount of the fine, the CRPC took into account the fact that, although the Company did not acknowledge the substance of the infringement, it voluntarily agreed to make the necessary changes to ensure that data would be obtained from all credit information bureaus. The Company completed these changes by 30 September 2025.
The CRPC encourages consumers who have doubts as to whether their creditworthiness was properly assessed at the time their loan was granted to use the creditworthiness assessment calculator available on the CRPC website. The calculator enables consumers to check whether their income at the time of concluding the agreement was sufficient to cover both their existing obligations and the new loan payments, and whether the ratio of debt repayments to income exceeded the permitted threshold.
If the calculator results indicate that the creditworthiness assessment may have been inadequate, consumers should submit a written complaint to the relevant lending service provider.