Since 1 March 1990, the Banque de France has provided the secretariat for the household debt commissions, which were created by the Act of 31 December 1989 (amended in 1995, 1998 and 2003).

The commissions, of which at least one was set up in each of France's départements, are charged with finding solutions to the problems encountered by private individuals who have incurred excessive debts or who experience a drop in income as a result of unforeseeable events.

Since the entry into force of the Act of 1 August 2003, the commission may, depending on the gravity of the financial difficulties faced by the debtor, direct the case:

• either towards an out-of-court procedure based on the negotiation of an agreed repayment schedule liable to be accepted by the debtor and his creditors; in the event of a failure to arrive at a negotiated settlement, the commission must, if requested by the debtor, draw up "recommendations" that are binding on both parties once the judge has made them legally enforceable;
• or towards a personal recovery procedure - based on personal bankruptcy procedures - when the debtor's situation is "irremediably compromised"; the judge may then, with the debtor's consent, order the cancellation of the debt, after liquidation of the individual's goods via the sale of his distrainable assets.

In its role as administrator of the household debt commission secretariats, the Banque de France is charged with receiving debtors' applications and processing their cases, notably by conducting, on the commission's behalf, negotiations with creditors and drawing up recommendations to be submitted to the courts. In 2004, 188,176 cases were submitted to the commission secretariats.

the information notice n° 134
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the Statistics of the household debt commissions of 1990 to 2004
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