Judicial treatment of over-indebt: the compulsory plan and the supplier’s attitude

Abstract

Over-indebtedness is understood as the global impossibility of the individual debtor, consumer, layman and in good faith, to pay all his current and future consumer debts, without compromising his existential minimum. Faced with this phenomenon of consumer society, Law 14.181/2021 emerged, which amended the Consumer Protection Code and regulated the duties of good faith when granting credit by the supplier and its intermediaries in installment sales. At the judicial level, as a way of dealing with over-indebtedness, the new Law also provides for a compulsory debt renegotiation plan, which aims to reestablish the possibility for consumers to return to living without compromising their existential minimum. In this context, through the deductive method and bibliographical research, we will seek to answer the following: to what extent does the supplier’s “new” stance, included in consumer law, contribute to the reduction in the number of over-indebtedness actions in the Judiciary and what measures are necessary to make the proposal more effective? To this end, the deductive approach method is adopted, starting from the changes brought by Law 14.181/2021, to, in the end, reflect on the changes necessary for greater effectiveness in prevention, through the behavior of the supplier of products or services. Finally, it can be concluded that credit providers must adopt behaviors compatible with the sustainable implementation of the contract, adapting the offer according to the consumer’s economic capacity, thus promoting greater effectiveness of the principle of responsible credit.