Transparency of Price Conditions in Consumer Credit: The Usage of the APR

Several studies have addressed the issue of consumer credit. Its influence on banks’ profits, factors that inspired borrowing decisions, and over-borrowing have been investigated. More recently, studies have dealt with the theme of transparency of price conditions. There are two main reasons why more attention is being paid to this topic: first, the weakening of the oligopolistic structure of the credit market, which has induced credit providers to avail themselves of new competitive levers; secondly, the renewed guidelines on supervision, which are now more focused on promoting individual comparative skills and preventing information overload.