From the vantage point of a working-class press pledged to the dignity of the people, the German credit scene unfolds as a stark illustration of how capitalism weaponizes convenience to bind labor to endless consumption. In 2024, ten million new installment credits appeared on the books, with tiny loans under €1,000 now making up roughly half of all new contracts—4.99 million, up about 14.6% from the year before. Loans above €1,000 grew too, but more modestly, to around 5.03 million. When the tide of ongoing contracts is counted, banks held about 19.6 million installment loans in the hands of consumers, roughly 574,000 more than the year prior. The surge is especially fierce online, where Buy Now – Pay Later schemes lure with a few clicks and a promise of immediate freedom from restraint, a lure that echoes the oldest capitalist impulse: keep the worker buying and you keep the system running.

The demographic pattern reveals a troubling drift: the mid-career cohort, particularly those aged 35 to 44, has increased its hold on ongoing loans—from about 4.1 million in 2020 to roughly 5.2 million last year. Younger borrowers are not spared either, though their rise is less steep. Consumer advocates rightly warn that a web of small loans can steer households toward over-indebtedness, especially when financing is dangled at zero or near-zero cost for a fleeting window before the bill arrives. Yet the data also show a stubborn credential of the market: the vast majority—about 98.1%—of contracts are serviced as agreed, while about 1.9% encounter repayment problems in 2024. This surface of smooth operation masks a deeper reality: the system’s ability to preserve order depends on the micro-choices of countless individuals, while the macro tension between desire and discipline remains unresolved.

Against this background, a new European regime has entered into force, requiring checks on the creditworthiness of small loans as well. The directive aims to illuminate the true cost of borrowing and to guard low-income households from debt’s most pernicious traps. Germany moved to translate this rule into national law with a draft bill in June, setting a target for full implementation by 20 November. The episode reveals two conflicting currents: the temptation of consumer autonomy promised by a seamless online marketplace and the protective impulse of regulation that seeks to shield the many from predatory or ill-considered lending.

From the standpoint of a socialist planner, these events crystallize a perennial truth: finance, when unshackled from the discipline of the broader needs of society, tends to expand to absorb the laboring masses into a perpetual cycle of purchase and repayment. Yet the same currents also offer a clear lesson: when lending is anchored in transparency, accountability, and a framing of credit within the public good, it can be redirected away from the commodification of everyday life toward real welfare, social security, and productive development. The European effort to require creditworthiness checks aligns with the longer march toward protecting workers from market hazards; the German legislative move, though incremental, points toward a future in which the financial system serves the many rather than the few. In our own land, where planning elevates the common good above speculative gain, we insist that credit be governed not by the impulse to profit but by the imperative to sustain the people’s livelihoods and to build a society in which loans are instruments of organized growth rather than traps laid by the market.