Amounts concerned, necessary authorizations… We take stock of the new bank overdraft rules which will apply in November 2026

The new text plans to align the rules with those of consumer credits. The changes mainly concern overdrafts of less than 200 euros and less than one month.

Changes that will affect millions of households in France. The government modified by prescription the rules governing bank overdrafts. These measures, which are due to come into force on November 20, 2026, are already the subject of criticism from many political parties. Franceinfo summarizes what you need to know.

Overdrafts of less than 200 euros affected

The changes mainly concern overdrafts of less than 200 euros and less than one month. Currently, each bank sets the conditions of duration, amount and interest rate which allow a customer to have a debit balance, that is to say to be temporarily “in the red”. In return, the customer must pay interest to his bank.

The new text plans to align the rules around these overdrafts with those for consumer credit. Concretely, banks will now be required to carry out a solvency analysis, which was not the case until now. If a customer is over-indebted or has income that the bank considers too low, the request may be refused, even if the desired overdraft is of a limited amount.

For overdrafts exceeding 200 euros and lasting more than a month, the new framework hardly changes the rules, since they were already subject to those of consumer credits, recalls the French Banking Federation (FBF). The impact for customers will essentially be additional information to be provided, she reports, but banks already have solvency analysis obligations in these cases.

Authorization will not be necessary for each overdraft

“To obtain an overdraft authorization, it is already necessary to make a request to your bank, either when opening your bank account or when the need arises”writes the FBF. The latter recalls that the right to overdraft “is not automatic”.

The solvency analysis will always be carried out when the bank account is created, or at the customer’s request if their authorized overdraft amount is too low for their needs. On the other hand, once a certain overdraft amount is authorized, there will be no need to make a new request for each overdraft, according to the FBF.

Overdrafts already set up before November 20, 2026 are not affected. “The government has ensured that there is no over-transposition of the directive”assures the Ministry of the Economy.

Changes due to the application of a European directive

THE European directive 2023/2225 relating to consumer credit contracts, adopted by the European Union in October 2023, obliges France and other member states to make these modifications. In the reasons for the European text, its authors explain that “among credit contracts which do not fall within the scope of application of (the previous European directive on consumer credits)several can be harmful to consumers, including high-cost short-term credit contracts, the amount of which is generally below the minimum threshold of 200 euros..

“In this context, and with the aim of ensuring a high level of consumer protection and facilitating the cross-border consumer credit market”the new directive also applies to these credits, justifies the text. The directive includes a number of other measures, which require credit institutions to better inform and protect consumers.

The new rule in the sights of banks

For Daniel Baal, president of Crédit Mutuel and the French Banking Federation, this tightening of rules bothers banks and “will complicate the lives of many households”. In a message published Thursday on LinkedInhe believes that the text, “coming from above”East “completely inappropriate and disproportionate” And “will complicate life” of the “banking advisors” and will be “harmful to the customer experience”.

“Banks will do their utmost to reduce the negative impacts of this new regulation, which they will however be obliged to apply, under penalty of sanctions”assured Daniel Baal.

The Minister of the Economy, Roland Lescure, assured that he would bring together banks and consumer associations from Tuesday in order to “to reassure” concerning the tightening of the rules on bank overdrafts in 2026, in an interview in La Tribune Sunday. “The interest of this text consists above all in reducing the fees applied to bank overdrafts”he justified.

Overdrafts will not be prohibited, contrary to the assertions of certain rebels

On the political side, several elected officials and figures from La France insoumise such as Clémence Guetté, Antoine Léaument and Jean-Luc Mélenchon wrote on “Macron wants to ban bank overdrafts” or that the overdrafts “will be prohibited”what is wrong. The member for Val-de-Marne launched a petition entitled “No to the ban on bank overdrafts” on the site changer.orgwhich collected more than 42,000 signatures.

When the text was voted on in the European Parliament, almost all groups voted in favor of the text. Among them, LFI MEP Manon Aubry supported the directive, which includes among other measures “a strengthening of obligations in terms of assessing the solvency of applicants”and who “goes in the direction of better consumer protection”she wrote in September 2023 on his website.