Crédit Foncier ('landed credit'), a system of lending money on the security of landed property, established in France by an edict of 28th February 1852. Its peculiarity is that the loan is repayable by a terminable annuity, the amount and currency of the annuity being so calculated that when the last payment is made, the loan and the interest on it will be extinguished. Or it may be described as a loan repayable by instalments. The borrower, however, has the right of anticipating repayment. The system is precisely regulated by the edict, which prohibits an advance to more than one-half of the value of the property pledged or hypothecated.
Three companies were established by the French government in Paris, Marseilles, and Nevers. They were all formed in 1852, and on 10th December of the same year were amalgamated as the Crédit Foncier de France, with the privilege of making such advances. The Crédit Foncier stands relatively to real estate as the Crédit Mobilier to personal property. The companies formed in Britain to advance money for improvements on landed properties are of a similar character. The Crédit Foncier (Limited), formed in London in 1864, was a general finance company. It speculated largely in the promotion of public works at home and abroad, met with heavy losses, and was several times reorganised.