Usury rate in Belgium: the maximum APR on a credit card

No, not under that name. Belgium has no French-style usury rate, but a legal maximum APR set by royal decree. For a credit card with spread-out repayment, it is 14.50 % for a credit line of €1,251 to €5,000. A card that exceeds it can no longer charge you any interest.

Is there a usury rate in Belgium?

Not in the sense used in France. There, the usury rate (taux d'usure) is calculated every quarter by the Banque de France from the average rates actually charged, plus a third. The pages explaining the usury rate are almost all written for that regime, and they are wrong for a Belgian card.

In Belgium, the ceiling is called the maximum APR (TAEG maximum), or maximum rate. It rests on Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, the part of the code that governs consumer credit, and on the Royal Decree of 14 September 2016 on the costs, rates, duration and repayment terms of credit. The FPS Economy publishes the grid in force.

Two differences matter. The Belgian ceiling applies to the APR, so interest and fees included. And it moves at most twice a year, by a decree published in the Moniteur belge, the official gazette.

In the files I used to handle, the confusion came back every month. A cardholder disputed their interest by quoting a French ceiling, sometimes above 20 %, sometimes far lower. The file was closed in two lines, because that text does not apply to a Belgian contract.

What is the maximum APR on a credit card today?

It depends on two things: the form of the credit and the amount of the line. A credit card that lets you spread repayment is legally a credit facility (ouverture de crédit), the Belgian name for revolving credit. If it is drawn with a card that has electronic functions, the "with card" column applies.

Grid in force since 1 December 2025, published in the Moniteur belge of 8 October 2025, reproduced by Test-Achats (the Belgian consumer association) and read on 23 October 2026. No revision had taken effect by that date.

The "without card" column is not only about credit lines with no plastic. An overdraft on a current account, when you go into the red, also falls under the without-card ceiling up to €1,250, which is 12.50 %.

Which band applies to my card?

The one matching the amount of credit written in the contract, in principle. Not the balance you use. It is the point nobody reads, and it shifts the ceiling by two points.

A €1,250 line falls in the first band: 16.50 % allowed. A €1,300 line falls in the second: 14.50 %. On €1,000 carried for twelve months with no repayment, the gap is roughly €20 in interest, for the same spending and the same cardholder.

In a rate file, the issuer looks first at two documents: the amount of the line and the date of the rate sheet. This month's balance changes nothing.

For a pure deferred-debit card, settled in full every month, the question does not arise: there is no credit facility, so no APR to compare with the ceiling. The article on the difference between APR and borrowing rate details what goes into the calculation.

Why do so many cards show 14.50 %?

Because specialised lenders set their APR at the ceiling of the band, while traditional banks often stay well below it. The table compares cards surveyed at the issuer.

Sources: Beobank Visa Classic page, Buy Way Mastercard and Mastercard One guides, KBC Flex Budget page.

Three cards out of four sit at the ceiling, to within a hundredth of a point. Over twelve months, with €2,000 carried and no repayment, that is roughly €290 in interest and fees at 14.50 %, against €187 at 9.35 %. Both amounts are orders of magnitude. The real cost depends on your repayments, and the article on the minimum payment works it out month by month.

The ceiling does not stop at the rate. At Buy Way, a cash withdrawal costs a flat €6.50, and interest runs from the day of the withdrawal. Taking out €100 and repaying it a month later comes to about €7.60. The legal ceiling only sees the APR; that flat fee sits on the tariff page.

How does the ceiling move, and your rate with it?

In steps, at most twice a year. At the end of March and the end of September, the FPS Economy compares the reference index for credit facilities, the monthly average of three-month Euribor, with the one used for the last adjustment. If it has moved by at least 0.75 point, a decree sets new maxima. They take effect on the first day of the second month after their publication in the Moniteur belge, in practice a 1 June or a 1 December (FPS Economy press release of 28 May 2025).

Reconstructed by the author from the FPS Economy press releases of 2023 and 2025, checked against the band published in June 2023 and the grid of 1 December 2025.

Beobank's Visa sheet followed that movement to the letter. It showed 15.99 % with a rate "in force on 01/12/2023", under a 16 % ceiling. It has shown 14.49 % since the 2025 cut, under a 14.50 % ceiling.

New maxima apply to new contracts and to existing variable-rate contracts. When the ceiling falls, an APR above it has to be brought down to the new maximum. When it rises, the issuer may raise your rate up to the new ceiling, provided it warns you beforehand. The rules for that notice are set out in the article on a rate rise on your card.

In December 2023, the one-point rise produced a wave of letters to the disputes department. Most cardholders had not challenged the notice letter, they had never seen it. Downward revisions, on the other hand, never generated a single complaint: nobody writes in to check that a rate has actually gone down.

What happens if the APR exceeds the legal maximum?

The cost of the credit falls away entirely. According to the FPS Economy, when the legal maximum APRs are exceeded, the consumer is exempted by operation of law from paying the whole cost of the credit. Interest and fees included. Only the capital remains due.

It is rare on a published rate sheet, because no issuer deliberately advertises an illegal rate. It shows up elsewhere: a card fee that should have been included in the APR and is missing, a variable rate that was not brought down to the ceiling after a cut, or a line placed in the wrong band.

Four checks on your contract

• The amount of credit written in the contract, which sets the band, not the available amount shown in the app.
• The date of the rate on the rate sheet, to compare with the date of the last revision of the ceiling.
• Recurring card charges (annual fee, monthly percentage, management fees), which must be included in the advertised APR.
• The type of rate, fixed or variable. A fixed rate does not come down with the ceiling, a variable rate has to follow it.

In the files I used to handle, the fourth line was the one most often misunderstood. A fixed-rate cardholder waited for a cut that would never come. A variable-rate cardholder did not know they were entitled to one.

Where do I report an APR above the ceiling?

In writing, and in this order. First the issuer's complaints department, with a copy of the contract, the rate sheet and the statement showing the rate. Keep proof of sending.

If the answer does not satisfy you, the FPS Economy enforces Book VII and takes reports. Ombudsfin, the Belgian financial ombudsman, in principle turns down complaints about the level of a rate set by commercial decision. Exceeding the legal ceiling is a question of compliance with the contract and the law, to be presented as such, once the written complaint has gone unanswered. The justice of the peace (juge de paix), the local court, rules on consumer credit disputes.

To compare cards on their three figures rather than on their perks, the ranking of Belgian credit cards, the comparison tool and the selection guide set out the annual fee, APR and cost of a €100 withdrawal card by card.

Sources, read on 23 October 2026 unless stated otherwise. Grid of maximum APRs and revision mechanism: FPS Economy, maximum rates, press release of 28 May 2025, overview of maximum APRs over time (version of 1 December 2025). Grid of 1 December 2025: Test-Achats. Exemption from the cost of credit, Euribor index and June 2023 grid: FPS Economy press release reproduced by Forum for the Future. Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law: consolidated text in the Moniteur belge. Usury rate in France: Banque de France. Issuer rates: Beobank surveyed on 15 October 2026, Buy Way and KBC on the dates shown in the table. Author's calculations of 23 October 2026. No link in this article is paid.