ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a general description of the Estonian debt collection market and the lack of sector-specific public law regulation. It gives an overview of the different authorities responsible for the supervision of the debt recovery industry. The chapter also describes how the government has only recently started considering enacting some sector-specific public law, licensing obligation among them. Next, it follows the development of the legislative response setting forth statutory limits for debt recovery costs and claims that these legislative changes were very much induced by the so-called SMS-loan boom and the resulting over-indebtedness of consumers back in the 2000s and 2010s. The chapter addresses the quite detailed and nuanced rules setting forth statutory limits for debt collection costs and their application in judicial practice. It finally describes the technological development and increasing use of software solutions in Estonian debt recovery practices from both the industry side as well as the consumer side.
