The Regulation of Household Debt Levels in the EU and Three of its Member States: Evaluating the Legal Preconditions for Effectiveness

High levels of household debt were at the heart of the financial crisis. They have created vulnerabilities for individual households and for the financial system as a whole. In response to the crisis, the European Union reformed the Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive, and added new possibilities to increase risk-weights for household loans. It also adopted the Mortgage Credit Directive, which obliges lenders to assess a consumer’s creditworthiness before providing credit. Many member state