Credit withdrawal period: 14 days or one month?

Yes. A consumer credit can be cancelled without giving a reason within 14 calendar days of signing, and the credit card contracts I re-read carry that right over. Some go further: the simulation Beobank publishes for its Extra Mastercard promises one month for a contract concluded at a distance.

The same document prints both periods.

Fourteen calendar days, no reason needed, from signing

The rule is federal, so it applies in all three Regions. ConsumerConnect, the consumer portal of the federal economy ministry (SPF Économie), puts it in one sentence: you have 14 calendar days to cancel the loan without having to give a reason. Wikifin, the financial education site run by the regulator (FSMA), in a page updated on 10 February 2026, confirms the fourteen days for consumer credit and says they do not apply "in principle" to mortgages.

The period is counted in calendar days, Sundays and public holidays included, leaving out the day of signing. It starts when the contract is concluded, or on the day you receive the general terms when they arrive later. A Credit2Consumer page dated 27 July 2021 places these rules in articles VII.83 and VII.78, § 1, of the Code of Economic Law. I could not re-read those articles at the source, because the Belgian Official Gazette and the SPF Économie block robots: the numbers rest on that one page.

The rest of the chain of cardholder rights, from disputing a charge to lodging a complaint, is in our pillar on cardholder rights. Cancelling the credit does not stop the subscriptions plugged into the card, though: those are settled with the merchant.

Does a credit card fall under this right?

Yes, according to the three card contracts I re-read, and no official page says otherwise. None says so either: ConsumerConnect names neither the card nor the open-ended credit line, whether among its examples or its exceptions. Wikifin merely recalls, in its page of 12 February 2026, that the contract must state whether the right exists, how to use it and what it entails.

It is the issuers that name the card. The terms of the "Carrefour Visa credit card", issued by Fimaser, open their article 1 with a fourteen-day right of withdrawal. The form published by Argenta covers "a debit or credit card" requested at a distance. Beobank's simulation describes a credit line linked to a card.

That fits the nature of the product: a Belgian credit card is an open-ended credit line, a contract with a limit that you sign before the plastic arrives. For a debit card with no credit, the right comes from elsewhere. Argenta's form cites article VI.54 and following of the Code of Economic Law, on distance financial services.

Fourteen days against one month: the documents side by side

In section 4 of the Beobank simulation, two sentences follow each other: "You have 14 calendar days to withdraw from the credit contract", then the same sentence with "one month". The section on distance selling keeps the month, which runs from the day the contract is concluded.

Documents re-read on 18 October 2026, those of the three issuers carrying no publication date. The Beobank file is marked "CONFIDENTIEL - Simulation", with a 2,600 euro credit at 15.99% APR and no date. It describes an example contract, not yours. The SECCI, the pre-contract information sheet the lender hands over before you sign, is defined in our glossary of law and players.

I read the two periods as those of a contract signed in a branch and of a contract signed at a distance, printed together by a document template that the issuer did not bother to trim before putting it online, but nothing in the file confirms it. Printing two periods without saying which applies is a drafting fault, and the risk falls on the cardholder. So I always count on the shorter one: if the month is indeed yours, you gained two weeks you will not use, and if the contract was wrong, you lost nothing.

Argenta and Carrefour Finance stay at fourteen days with no variation. Beobank is the only one of the three to promise a month, and no official page I read mentions that month.

A contract signed on Monday 19 October 2026 can be cancelled until 2 November

The dates below are my own calculation of 18 October 2026, using Credit2Consumer's rule: calendar days, starting day excluded.

Only the day of sending counts. Credit2Consumer writes that the period is deemed respected when the notice leaves before it expires, and Argenta specifies that the postmark or the date of the email is what counts. A letter arriving on 4 November after posting on 2 November is therefore in order.

Keep the receipt.

What does a withdrawal cost after a first purchase on the card?

About three euros for 1,000 euros used for seven days. The calculation is mine: 1,000 euros at 15.99% a year, the APR of the Beobank simulation for lack of a readable borrowing rate, gives 3.07 euros over seven days and 6.13 euros over fourteen. The APR includes fees, so the borrowing rate is lower and so is the real interest.

The law requires repaying the capital drawn and the interest within 30 calendar days of sending the notice, according to Credit2Consumer. ConsumerConnect and Wikifin say the same in broad terms. A letter posted on Friday 30 October 2026 leaves until Sunday 29 November. Interest is calculated at the agreed rate.

The lender can claim nothing else. Beobank writes that the bank is entitled to no compensation, and Carrefour Finance reserves only unrecoverable fees paid to a public body. Credit2Consumer also cites an opinion from the administration: the consultation of the Central Individual Credit Register cannot be charged back to you. Ancillary contracts end by operation of law, balance-outstanding insurance included, and its premium is refunded.

On the annual fee already paid and on the fate of the physical card, none of the pages I read answers. None says either whether a cancelled contract leaves a trace in the Central Individual Credit Register; the usual registration rules are in our article on credit register listing.

How do you send the withdrawal, and what if the deadline has passed?

1. Note the period or periods in the contract, and the customer service address.
2. Write a few lines: your name, the contract number, your decision to cancel, the date, your signature. No reason is required.
3. Post the letter by registered mail before the last day. ConsumerConnect mentions only that medium; Argenta and Carrefour Finance also accept email. I always back an email with a registered letter, because the postal receipt carries a date nobody disputes.
4. Stop using the card and repay the capital and interest within 30 days. If subscriptions were attached to it, cut them off with the merchant too.

After the last day, withdrawal no longer exists and termination takes over. For an open-ended credit line, ConsumerConnect asks for a registered letter, unless the general terms provide another medium, with a notice period of up to one month. The steps are in our guide to cancelling a credit card.

The official pages say nothing about cards

ConsumerConnect talks about loans and never says the word card. Four points therefore remain open:

• which of Beobank's two periods applies to your contract;
• the fate of the annual fee and of the physical card;
• the possible trace in the Central Individual Credit Register;
• the exact text of articles VII.78 and VII.83, which I know only through Credit2Consumer.

A CreBelFin page dated 16 December 2015 gives an example contract dated 1 June 2016: its date is doubtful and I did not use it.

In my diary I would note the shorter of the two dates: Monday 2 November 2026 for a signature on 19 October, registered letter posted that day at the latest.