Eleven banks operating in Romania were found to apply misleading commercial practices in the installment calculation method, which is why the National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) fined them a combined 550,000 RON, and also ordered them to issue new repayment schedules, for the contractual balance to be restored, ANPC general director Paul Anghel told AGERPRES.
"ANPC has identified misleading commercial practices in the way the banking economic operators were calculating installments, due to the fact that on the repayment schedule, in the first years, the installment was 25 percent principal and 75 percent interest. Due to this method of calculation, the borrowers were in fact paying mainly interest. For the contractual balance to be restored, in addition to the sanction, i.e. 11 fines in the amount of 550,000 RON, the ANPC commissioners proposed the issue of new repayment schedules for both loans in progress, and future ones, where the principal amount of the loan shall be repaid in equal installments, over the entire lending period, calculated against the loan interest," Anghel stated.
According to the cited source, this measure will allow average consumers to benefit from equality between the contract parties, but will also ensure contractual balance, so that they can make an informed borrowing decision and anticipate any misleading cost or calculation method.
The 11 sanctioned banks are: ING Bank, First Bank, Credite Europe Bank, OTP Bank, Alpha Bank, Banca Transilvania, Raiffeisen Bank, BCR, Patria Bank, Unicredit Bank, BRD Groupe Societe Generale.
ANPC has carried out a series of checks into the way banks implement medium and long-term retail lending contracts in domestic RON or foreign currency, with a repayment term of over 10 years, as well as into the compliance of the contractual terms and conditions with consumer rights.
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