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Finland: a 20% ceiling on the interest itself

Finland caps consumer credit interest at 20%, one of the tightest ceilings in Europe. A flat 20% cap has applied to consumer credit since September 2019, replacing a rule that had capped only small credits at the reference rate plus 50 points. Since 1 October 2023 the cap has been tighter still: the rate may not exceed the Interest Act reference rate plus 15 percentage points, with 20% as the absolute ceiling whatever the reference rate does. It applies to the interest on the credit, so a card cannot charge past it however the account is marketed.

That single number changes what a payoff plan looks like here. A Finnish card at 15% costs a little over a third of what an Indian card costs on the same balance and roughly two thirds of an American one, and the minimum payment behaves quite differently: at 15% a year the interest is 1.25% a month, so a 3% minimum with the interest taken from within it still puts about 1.75% of the balance against the debt every month. Finnish minimums clear a card in years, not decades.

Issuers typically require about 3% of the balance, with a floor of about €25. Enter a rate above 20% and the calculator flags it, because on a Finnish consumer credit that rate should not be enforceable.

For how the calculation works, the formula behind it and what it leaves out, see the full guide.

Data sources

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Each country has its own rates, thresholds and rules, and its own page with the official sources they came from.

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