Consumer Credit for the Sale of Goods and Services: The New Article 54-F of the Consumer Protection Code – Advances, Setbacks, and Omissions

Abstract

This article focuses on a specific type of linked contract: consumer credit agreements used for the purchase of goods or services. These contracts are characterized by the fact that the loaned funds are specifically intended for the purchase of a particular product or service, with the lender and the seller or service provider acting in coordination—essentially, in partnership. This form of consumer financing represents the most common and significant example of linked contracts in modern society, where consumption is increasingly driven by access to installment-based payment structures. Recently, the Brazilian Congress addressed this contractual configuration by introducing Article 54-F into the Consumer Protection Code, as part of the so-called “Over-indebtedness Statute”—a legal framework aimed at protecting consumers who have accumulated so much debt that they are no longer able to meet their financial obligations without compromising their basic subsistence. On one hand, the new provision is commendable for consolidating certain solutions already established in case law and legal scholarship—such as the principle that defects (or “vices”) can extend or “spread” between linked contracts. On the other hand, it also introduced some setbacks, particularly in its treatment of credit cards. Furthermore, the provision remains ambiguous in certain areas—for example, with respect to the lender’s liability for damages caused by the supplier—and is silent on other important aspects, such as whether the consumer may invoke the defense of suspension of performance (exceptio non adimpleti contractus) against the lender, based on the default of the supplier