Goodbye to “direct-to-company” installment plans: how installment sales are changing and why your store needs a new IT integration

The domino effect: it’s not just about the big online stores

Many entrepreneurs underestimate the problem, but the directive doesn’t just affect large e-commerce platforms. It hits traditional merchants selling expensive products or services just as hard. The company that installs solar panels or heat pumps. The workshop that produces custom furniture. The dental clinic offering installment plans. The interior design firm working on large contracts. And many others.

All of these currently use exactly the model that is becoming illegal. And to continue selling on installment plans, they will have to collaborate with authorized financial institutions (banks or retail non-bank financial institutions) and, very importantly, completely adapt their IT systems to integrate these workflows.

What does “new IT integration” actually mean?

When making a purchase on installments, the customer no longer signs a simple commercial contract with your company. Instead, they automatically go through a digital workflow integrated with the partner non-bank financial institution (NBFI): biometric identity verification (KYC, ID plus selfie), real-time ANAF income check, instant credit scoring, and digital signing of the credit agreement directly with the financial institution.

You sell. The customer buys on installments. But the credit risk and legal obligations are assumed by the authorized non-bank financial institution (IFN). Your store or ordering system simply needs to “integrate” seamlessly with this workflow, without friction at any step and, of course, without manual steps that drive the customer away in the middle of the purchase.

This is, in essence, what is called embedded finance: financing integrated directly into the shopping experience. And implementing it correctly is a software issue, not a legal one.

Why Speed Matters

In the second half of this year, a real race will begin on the IT front. All companies that offer installment plans will simultaneously try to adapt their systems before November 20. And the technical resources capable of correctly integrating these workflows are limited.

The earlier you start, the more:

avoid the last-minute rush and inflated prices;
have time for thorough testing, rather than a rushed integration that lands right in the middle of peak season;
you can even turn compliance into a marketing advantage: “pay in installments, fast and secure,” while the competition is still struggling to get their system up and running.

How REEA Can Help

At REEA, we have over 20 years of experience in developing and integrating online payment solutions, and adapting to new European legislative requirements is exactly the kind of technical challenge we solve.

We can help you integrate your online store or e-commerce platform with a legally compliant installment/credit processor, a non-bank financial institution (NBFI), or an authorized partner bank, including automated workflows for biometric KYC, ANAF verification, credit scoring, and digital contracting. We work with various platforms (WooCommerce, Shopify, PrestaShop, Magento, custom solutions) and can adapt your existing architecture without disrupting your current operations.

In short, we turn a regulatory constraint into a seamless, compliant, and future-ready sales process.

If you represent a company that sells on installment plans and know you’ll need to change your operating model by November, there’s no time to waste. Contact us and together we’ll find the best technical solution to help your business navigate this wave of regulations with flying colors.

If you sell products or services on installments (solar panels, heat pumps, custom furniture, dental treatments, interior design, etc.), there is a legislative change that will directly affect how you make sales starting this fall. And, unlike many regulations that are “postponed,” this one comes with a firm deadline and an infringement procedure already opened against Romania.

The good news: there is a clear technical solution, and those who prepare in advance will have a concrete advantage over competitors caught unprepared in November.

What’s happening, in short

The European CCD II Directive (Consumer Credit Directive II — EU Directive 2023/2225) redefines what “consumer credit” means. And the new definition is much broader than the old one.

Until now, if a company offered interest-free installments for a short period and for small amounts, it was all considered a simple “commercial arrangement” and fell outside banking regulations. Hence the widespread model: “It costs 30,000 lei. You pay a down payment, and the rest in 6 installments directly into our account.”

CCD II eliminates precisely this loophole. Three new rules completely change the game:

Any payment deferral or installment plan, even for one leu, legally becomes a regulated loan, and the old 200-euro threshold disappears.
Even if you don’t charge any interest, the installment plan is treated as a consumer loan.
And, most importantly, the creditor has a legal obligation to verify the customer’s creditworthiness by querying the ANAF database and reporting to the Credit Bureau.

The practical conclusion is harsh for merchants: “direct-to-business” installments become illegal. An ordinary merchant is no longer entitled to grant credit or defer payment on a professional basis without a license from an IFN authorized by the NBR or without a partner bank/IFN backing them.

Why is everything changing right now?

Member states were required to transpose the directive into national law by the end of last year. Romania was late, which is why, in January 2026, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure. As a result, authorities are now working under pressure on the draft law. The critical date is November 20, 2026. From then on, the rules become mandatory in the market.

This isn’t just theoretical speculation. eMAG, for example, has already been racing against the clock: it has integrated its own non-bank financial institution (HeyBlu, authorized by the NBR) as a payment processor and financier for installment plans on its platform, precisely to ensure service continuity without the risk of seeing its sales blocked this fall. If Romania’s largest retailer treated this as a strategic priority, the question for any business that sells on installment plans becomes: how prepared are you?