Chaco creates a protection register for credit and cards to curb overindebtedness tied to gambling and other problematic consumption

Argentina’s Chaco province has passed a law that creates a Registro Provincial de Protección (RPP), a confidential and free register designed to limit access to credit and payment tools for people facing addiction, gambling disorder, or other problematic consumption. For banks, card issuers, mutuals, extrabank lenders, and fintechs operating in Chaco, the practical point is simple: the register becomes a mandatory pre-check before extending credit.

1. The Chamber of Deputies of Chaco gave final approval to a bill promoted by Santiago Pérez Pons that establishes the Régimen de Protección de Solvencia y Prevención del Sobreendeudamiento por Consumos Problemáticos. The stated goal is to protect the assets of people in situations linked to addictions, gambling disorder, or other problematic consumption, while adding restrictions on access to certain financial tools.
2. The new framework also ties asset-protection measures to mental health procedures and to the province’s Código Procesal de Niñez, Adolescencia y Familia. In other words, this is not just a consumer-credit rule; it is being embedded into a broader legal and social protection structure.
3. The main mechanism is the Registro Provincial de Protección (RPP), a free and confidential database used to identify people subject to financial restrictions. Enrollment can happen in two ways: voluntarily, through a self-exclusion request by the person concerned, or by court order at the request of a spouse, cohabiting partner, or direct relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity.
4. Once a person is entered in the register, the user may face a total or partial financial block. Under a partial block, transactions require validation by a previously designated support person. The register will generate an automated apto/no apto report so financial institutions do not receive medical information or details about the reason for the restriction.
5. The voluntary registration carries a minimum duration of one year. That detail matters for PSPs and lenders because it creates an actual protection window rather than a quick opt-in, quick opt-out feature that would be easy to ignore in practice. The law also makes prior consultation of the register mandatory for banks, credit card issuers, mutuals, extrabank credit companies, and fintechs operating in Chaco. The same obligation applies to entities that use ID scanning or biometric data as validation methods.

For high-risk payment providers, the operational takeaway is straightforward: if you touch consumer credit, card issuance, or credit-led onboarding in Chaco, the RPP is now part of the decision flow. The province is explicitly pushing the check upstream, before the transaction happens, and it is doing so with a privacy filter that leaves institutions with a binary answer rather than a medical file.