Recital 50

(50) Providing advice in the form of a personalised recommendation, that is to say advisory services, is an activity which may be combined with other aspects of granting or intermediating credit. Therefore, in order to be in a position to understand the nature of the services provided to them, consumers should be made aware of what constitutes such advisory services and of whether or not advisory services are being, or can be, provided. Given the importance which consumers attach to the use of the terms ‘advice’ and ‘advisors’, Member States should be allowed to prohibit the use of those terms, or of similar terms, where such advisory services are being provided to consumers by creditors or credit intermediaries. It is appropriate to ensure that Member States impose safeguards where advice is described as independent to ensure that the range of products considered and remuneration arrangements are commensurate with consumers’ expectations of such advice. When providing advisory services, the creditors or the credit intermediaries should provide an indication of whether the recommendation will be based on only their own product range or on a wide range of products from across the market, so that the consumer can understand the basis on which the recommendation is made. Moreover, the creditor and the credit intermediary should provide an indication of the fee payable by the consumer for the advisory services or, where the amount cannot be established at the time of disclosure, the method used for its calculation. Advice should always be provided in the best interest of the consumer, by advisors informing themselves about the consumer’s needs and circumstances and recommending credit agreements suitable to the consumer’s needs, financial situation and personal circumstances, bearing in mind also the objective to minimise defaults and arrears. Moreover, a sufficiently large number of credit agreements in the advisor’s product range should be taken into consideration when providing advice.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-07-30 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.