The month of June is marked by the entry into force of two important new features in terms of creditor insurance. No change, however, for regulated gas prices.
Like every beginning of the month, a series of changes likely to impact the budget of individuals are taking place. Here are the main ones.
The end of the health questionnaire for certain credits
If the law does not require it, borrower insurance is generally required by banks when taking out a mortgage, especially for the acquisition of the main residence. Buyers suffering from a health problem or a chronic illness, or having had a serious illness, often see themselves applying for additional premiums and/or exclusions of guarantees.
However, this will no longer be the case, for certain credits, from June 1, thanks to the entry into force of the flagship measure of the law of February 28, 2022 “for fairer, simpler and more transparent access to the borrower’s insurance market”, known as the Lemoine law: the end of the medical questionnaire.
The insurer will no longer be able to ask you for information relating to your “state of health or any medical examination”, says the law, for home loans of up to 200,000 euros (it is the part insured by the borrower that counts, “on the cumulative outstanding balance of credit agreements” ). Provided that the credit ends before your 60th birthday.
Borrower insurance: easier termination
At what time of the year can you change the insurance of your mortgage? Until now, the process was feasible at any time during the first year of the contract, then once a year, on its anniversary date. From June 1, it will be simpler: for new loans, the insurance becomes terminable at any time, regardless of the age of the loan, in the application of the Lemoine law. The measure will apply to old credits in September.
Borrowers who have taken out group insurance from their bank will therefore be able, if they find better elsewhere, to go to an insurer called “delegated”, an external insurer, without worrying about the timing. Savings can thus be made, especially for the best files (the youngest, on permanent contracts, etc.). The condition for the lender to be obliged to accept remains the same: the new contract must present equivalent guarantees.
Another novelty: before signing the loan, the bank must indicate to the borrower the total amount that the insurance offered will cost him over the entire duration of the loan (this was already the case), but also over eight years. Practical information, because the credits are often repaid before the end of their initial duration, and the monthly insurance payments are not necessarily fixed (they are sometimes decreasing). The insurer must also inform the borrower each year of his right to terminate.
Retirement savings, life insurance: more transparency on costs
Numerous costs, weigh on returns and are, moreover, not very transparent for savers seeking to compare contracts: this is the gloomy picture that was drawn in mid-2021 in a report by Corinne Dromer, president of the Advisory Committee for the Financial Sector (CCSF), regarding the fees payable by subscribers to retirement savings plans (PER).
A step towards more transparency should be taken on June 1: ” The producers and distributors” of these individual PERs, but also of life insurance contracts, will have to “display the costs on their website, respecting a standard table established within the framework of a common agreement, under the aegis of the Ministry of the Economy”, explains the site Service-public.fr.
“This table will present information by identical categories so that subscribers can know and compare entry fees, annual fees (depending on the type of fund and management) and one-off fees (arbitration, exit, transfer to another contract, etc.) )”, it is specified. It must “at least be updated annually”, indicates France insurers.
Regulated gas prices remain frozen
Gas: regulated prices have not changed since October 2021
Without this freeze, the average price (excl. VAT) would be around 54% higher in June than the current level.
Tarif moyen appliqué, en % du tarif du 01/01/19 (HT)
Tarif moyen théorique, en % du tarif du 01/01/19 (HT)
For the eighth month in a row, regulated gas prices, traditionally revised monthly, remain frozen on June 1, at their October 2021 level. Without this measure, this month of June would have been marked by an average drop of 17.6% (HT), compared to the month of May, according to the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE).
But “the average level of regulated sales tariffs on June 1, 2022, would have been 54% higher excluding tax, or 48.70 % including tax, compared to the level [of] October 1,” details CRE. The government has announced its intention to extend this freeze until the end of 2022.
Daily social security allowances: a new ceiling
Among the consequences of the increase in the minimum wage applied in May : the raising of the ceiling for daily allowances from Social Security, for sick leave prescribed from June 1 . This maximum amount increases from 47.43 euros to 48.69 euros per day compensated.
The main deadlines of the month
June 8. Deadline to complete your online tax return for the last group of departments (numbers above 54).
June 13. Entry into force of measures facilitating the right to a bank account. Among them: the applicant will be able to initiate a procedure with the Banque de France, even if he does not yet have a letter of refusal to open an account from a bank, as soon as he can prove that he has made a request to the less than fifteen days ago.
June 14. Announced expansion of the so-called “immediate” or “instantaneous” tax credit for individuals employing an employee at home through a personal services organization (the measure was to be applied in April, but has been postponed).
June 22. Launch of the summer sales, for four weeks (until July 19), throughout mainland France, except in the Alpes-Maritimes and Pyrénées-Orientales (July 6-August 2), and in Corsica (13 July-August 9).