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Netherlands: a cap set by decree, and it binds

The Netherlands caps consumer credit by decree. The maximale kredietvergoeding is the statutory interest rate plus 8 percentage points, and it covers not just interest but the whole compensation a lender may charge for the credit, so fees cannot be used to get around it. The surcharge used to be 12 points; it was cut to 8 as a temporary pandemic measure in August 2020 and then kept, so the ceiling is permanently tighter than it was before 2020. Because the statutory rate is reset every six months against the ECB, the ceiling moves with it: check the current figure before assuming the rate you have entered is lawful.

Unlike the soft ceilings in Germany and Spain, this one binds in practice. Dutch revolving credit is priced right up against it, which is why the typical rate here is well below the American norm and why the gap between a good card and a bad one is small. It also means the calculator's warning about exceeding the ceiling is a real constraint rather than a caution: a Dutch doorlopend krediet simply cannot charge above it.

Revolving credit is tightly regulated in other ways too. Lenders must run an affordability check and register the credit with the BKR, and under pressure from the AFM most Dutch lenders have stopped writing new doorlopend krediet at all and have moved existing customers onto loans that actually amortise rather than lines that can run indefinitely.

Issuers typically require about 2% of the balance a month, with the interest taken from within it and a floor of about €25.

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

Data sources

  • Dutch consumer finance conventions

    Effective 2024-01-01 onward · retrieved 2026-08-30

    The AOW age moves with life expectancy and is announced five years ahead.

    How we checked these figures

    The maximum credit compensation is set by decree at the statutory interest rate plus 8 percentage points.

    Current

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