Cetelem hace una fuerte dotación por las tarjetas 'revolving'

Cetelem, a major Spanish consumer finance company, has significantly increased its provisions related to revolving credit cards, raising them from 44 to 96 million euros last year. This move, required by new legal contingencies, has resulted in a loss of 47 million euros for the company. WiZink, which relied heavily on revolving credit cards for a decade, has been the most directly affected by the high litigation related to this product, which is not regulated in Spain like in France or Portugal.

Over the years, Cetelem has set aside over 600 million euros in provisions to cover potential lawsuits accusing them of charging abusive interest rates. The total losses from 2020 to 2025 amount to over 350 million euros. Despite these losses, most banks in Spain have provisions related to the sale of revolving credit cards. Cetelem, one of the five largest companies in this sector, has set its provisions to 96 million euros in 2025, considering this the most accurate estimate of future losses based on existing jurisprudence.

The current doctrine from the Supreme Court establishes that cards with revolving credit lines, which automatically renew, cannot charge more than six percentage points above market average rates, which currently range from 20% to 24% TAE. This jurisprudence was further clarified last year with two resolutions defining the rules for marketing this product to ensure transparency.

CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, another major entity in consumer finance, has also increased its provisions for revolving credit cards and other consumer loans to 90 million euros, creating an additional 148 million euro fund. This led to a 60% drop in the previous year's profit from this division, which earned 118 million euros.

Cetelem provided 4.558 million euros in consumer finance last year. One in five cars purchased in Spain are financed through their credit, according to the company. Cetelem is the exclusive financier in Spain for Apple products, with mobile phones being the star product in this segment. Cetelem recently added Chinese group Geely Auto to its list of agreements, marking its entry into the Spanish market with its new brand.