Brussels, 13th July 2006

As agreed in the meeting of the Mortgage Credit Dialogue that took place on the 10th May 2006, this document gives an overview of Eurocoops' position regarding provision of advice:

• Eurocoop believes that provision of advice should not be mandatory for borrowers because it would be a disproportionate obligation to provide a service. We believe that advice is a service of its own and not a substantial requirement of all services, such as information. Therefore, economic operators are free to provide the services they which;



• Eurocoop would define provision of advice as: the service by which the lender indicates to the consumer the most adequate financial product(s) or service(s) to satisfy the consumers' needs and interests, according to the information provided to him by the consumer.



• If advice is given, then we believe it should be regulated, imposing to the lender certain conditions;



• Firstly, consumers should be informed of all the conditions for this service, including price;



• Secondly, provision of advice, if given, should respect a general condition on the objectives of such service. It should be a general formulation such as: When advice is given to consumers by the lender it should be based on transparent and objective considerations on the adequacy of product(s) or service(s) to the concrete personal situation of the consumer. The lender should give the best advice possible and should evaluate as best as possible the concrete personal situation of the consumer.

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