Abusive informal debt collection practices in Greece

Abstract

This chapter draws attention to the regulation of private debt collection in Greece, a country with a high number of non-performing loans (NPLs) that the financial crisis has severely impacted . Greece does not allow debt collection. Instead, companies may only inform debtors about their debt and arrange a payment plan, a legislative choice made to protect debtors from widespread abusive practices. The provisions of N.3758/2009, the principal framework for regulating companies that inform debtors, are analysed, including measures to tackle misleading and harassing practices and duties on companies to disclose information and record communications. Additionally, the chapter follows developments in case law and how public enforcement agencies have tackled abusive practices in the field. The chapter also analyses other players in the debt collection field, namely law firms that have benefitted from a gap in the law to engage in debt collection activities and debt management companies that are gaining a larger market share and create concerns with a legal framework and business model which are not consumer-friendly. The example of Greece shows that a combination of a robust legislative framework and enforcement is needed to tackle abusive informal debt collection practices, but ultimately, it is a complex issue that cannot be seen separately from the economy as a whole.