Find the new article by Ydriss ZIANE, Senior Lecturer HDR at the Sorbonne Business School.
The French know little about their country's laws. It's a pity, especially when they are used to protect people in financial distress who can no longer make ends meet, the over-indebted, more and more numerous today, faced with the rising cost of living.
After two years of high inflation, at 5.2% in 2022 and then 4.9% in 2023, the first time this has happened in over thirty years, the Banque de France recorded a 17% rise in overindebtedness filings in the first quarter of 2024. And that's just the visible part, as many people in financial difficulty don't dare push open its door, out of fear, shame or unfamiliarity with the procedure.
The likelihood that the sponge will be passed, that they can start afresh, is actually all the greater the more hopeless their situation is of improvement. But how many over-indebted people know that, if they were to take such steps, they would have a good chance of seeing their entire debt wiped out? [...]