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Principles applicable to advertising financial products and services

Advertising financial products and services must be:

True – the information presented by institutions when advertising their financial products or services must respect the truth and not misrepresent the facts;

Transparent – the advertising message must be easily read or heard. Omitting or concealing information needed to correctly evaluate the highlighted characteristics or benefits of financial products and services is not allowed. This information may include, specifically, the access conditions (for example, the need for an initial down payment) and restrictions (for example, requirement of a final instalment of a higher amount);

Balanced – information on access conditions and restrictions, deemed necessary in each individual case for bank customers to correctly evaluate the characteristics or benefits of the financial products and services that institutions highlight in their advertising, must have a similar prominence to that of those characteristics or benefits.

In advertising, the identity of the institution responsible for the financial products or services advertised must also be unequivocal.

Specific rules for advertising home loan and mortgage credit products

When advertising home loan and mortgage credit products, institutions must:

indicate the corresponding annual percentage rate of charge (APRC) – calculated without the effect of the financing of charges – with a prominence similar to that of the highlighted characteristics or benefits of those products;

provide a representative example of the APRC that includes, in particular:

the annual nominal rate, indicating whether it is fixed, variable or a combination of both, together with the indication of any applicable charges included in the total cost of the credit to the consumer;
the identification of the reference rate used and the respective amount;
the interest rate spread, where applicable;
the total amount of credit;
the duration of the credit agreement;
the number and amount of the instalments;
where applicable, the grace period or the percentage of deferred capital;
the total amount payable by the consumer;

where applicable, provide a representative example of the APRC of the credit with product bundling;

calculate the reference rate, at least at the beginning of the advertising campaign and whenever it is resumed, following an interruption;

indicate, with a prominence similar to that of a possible highlighted instalment, the repayment term and the amount of the loan which the instalment refers to.

Specific rules for advertising consumer credit products

When advertising consumer credit products, institutions must: