The National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) announced on Wednesday having definitively won the unfair business practices lawsuit against Raiffeisen Bank SA, and that the financial institution will consequently have to revise its interest rates for certain loan agreements.
According to an ANPC release, the High Court of Cassation and Justice issued a final ruling in the case in which Raiffeisen Bank SA was found to have resorted to unfair commercial practices liable to affect the customers' financial interests, and upheld Order No.837/20.10.2017 issued by the ANPC head.
"Justice has been served! Thousands of customers have a chance at fair treatment. Millions of euros will be returned to their families' budgets," said ANPC director general Paul Anghel, Agerpres.ro informs.
Specifically, over 2006 - 2008 the bank failed to inform in advance the customers about the future costs of the loans in RON, EUR and CHF, causing them to take out loans they would not have entered into had they known how high the interest rate would rise, respectively the costs they could not have foreseen.
Raiffeisen Bank's system had been set to automatically increase the interest rates one year after the signing of the loan contract; the institution justified this unilateral move through a clause introduced in the contract.
The aforementioned order of the ANPC president was issued following a control carried out in 2017 in response to complaints received from the group of CHF-denominated loan customers, and which found the use of these unfair business practices.
Comentează