The law providing the sanctioning of the banks and non-banking financial institutions (IFNs) that fail to observe consumer rights might be enforced as of 2009, and fines for breach of the rules might go as high as RON 50,000, president of the National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) Dan Vlaicu, told a press conference.
“Under the normative act completed by ANPC following talks with representatives of the Romanian Banks Association, the suppliers of financial services are required to not rise commissions during a contract’s unfolding period and not introduce new commissions either, unless the contract states otherwise. The bill will be soon voted into law and enforced as of January 2009,” said Dan Vlaicu.
The client of the bank shall be notified 30 days before a change is operated in the contract and if he disagrees with the change, he can refinance the credit by transfer to another bank or he can reimburse it.
“The competition-driven banking market will determine banks to offer better credit products to their clients. Under this provision the client can switch to another bank, which is not to the interest of the initial lending institution,” said Dan Vlaicu.
Fines applicable to banks vary between RON 5,000 and RON 50,000. A client can turn to court to request compensation. “Since the beginning of the year we registered 1,300 complaints for the banking sector, with the majority pointing the finger to changes in interest rates; 60 pct of the complaints were found to be justified,” said the ANPC president.
The draft Emergency Ordinance bans the introduction and charge of new taxes, commissions, tariffs or other costs that were not mentioned in the contract. In case of a fixed interest rate, this shall be clearly specified, whereas for the floating interest rate the variation thereof needs to be referred to the fluctuation of verifiable benchmark indices mentioned in the contract, explained Dan Vlaicu. “For credits in lei, the index depending on which the interest rate is calculated shall not rise past the ROBOR plus 5%,” mentioned the ANPC president.
Any form of advertisement for a bank or IFN shall include information about the credit interest rate, the effective annual interest rate the contract duration, the total amount payable by the consumer. If the borrower is required to sign an insurance contract to obtain the loan, this aspect shall be mentioned at the moment of the product’s promotion.
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