In the first nine months of 2018, 252 consumers received favourable decisions from banks or NBFis, versus 25 during the same period of last year.

Almost half of the total number of applications for conciliation between consumers and financial and banking institutions registered in the first nine months of 2018 (862 compliant applications) were turned into casefiles (404 casefiles). Compared to the Q3 2017, the number of compliant applications increased more than 3.2 times, while that of casefiles concluded with a mutually beneficial solution by more than 10 times.

Additionally, increasingly more consumers from across the country turned to ABDRC. For instance, while last year the applications received from Bucharest-Ilfov accounted for more than 52%, this year this percentage dropped to 34% as we see counties, such as Prahova, Iași, Brașov, Cluj, Dolj, and Constanța on the rise.

In September 2018, the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre celebrated its anniversary of two and a half years of operational activity.

In the end of the first three quarters of this year, we received:

• 4,500 inquiries by phone;
• 1,580 written applications, of which:
• 862 compliant applications;
• 25 non-compliant applications;
• 693 requests for miscellaneous information.

Classification of the 862 compliant applications:

• 404 casefiles created in Q3 2018;
• 104 in the screening phase – documents are being reviewed;
• 63 were settled amicably, directly between the bank and the consumer, after ABDRC having been seized with the case by the consumer;
• 313 were closed – rejected by the bank/NBFI.

Qualification of the 404 casefiles in the procedure with proposed solution:

• 252 resolutions rendered – the parties reached an agreement (90% of the solutions rendered);
• 100 casefiles in the phase of discussions with the parties;
• 32 reports issues – the parties did not reach an agreement (10% of the solutions rendered);
• 11 preliminary casefiles – in early stages;
• 9 casefiles in which one party withdrew from the procedure;

Means of filing compliant applications:

• 599 were emailed;
• 134 were submitted via the app (websites);
• 61 were mailed;
• 68 were brought to, and registered by consumers with the office of ABDRC.

Most applications received from clients refer to:

• Problems with loans taken out – 90%

• Decrease of the loan balance
• Removal of certain fees (management, tracking fees)
• Removal of certain contractual provisions
• Problems with enforcement
• Recalculation of the interest rate
• Re-staggering or refinancing of the loan
• Resumption of the repayment schedule
• Repayment of certain fees (management, analysis, risk, monitoring fees)
• Repayment of certain amounts
• Deregistration from in the Credit Register
• Other problems – 10%
• Deposits
• Credit cards
• Current account
• Problems with bank transfers
• Leasing

The main reasons for closing compliant applications are:

• businesses refused settlement of the disputes by ADR procedures:
  • an direct agreement has been reached with the consumer, further to the latter approaching ABDRC;
  • pending court actions;
  • forced execution procedures have already been initiated;
  • attempts to contact the consumer directly;
  • several offers have been made, but all of them were turned down by the consumer before the consumer had approached ABDRC);
• more than 90 days have passed since filing of the applications, and the consumers failed to supplement the applications with the data/documents required for due settlement.

NOTE:

Both the interest and awareness of the consumers of ABDRC have been raised compared to last year. The figures in the end of Q3 of this year, compared to those of the same period of last year, are more than three times better in terms of the number of applications received. Still, if we are to refer to the casefiles already concluded, the number thereof in 2018 is more than 10 times higher than in first nine months of 2017.

Q3 2018 is even better than the entire 2017, and this can be seen in the average number of applications and casefiles managed by ABDRC. The number of applications increased by two times versus the average of all 12 months of 2017. Furthermore, the monthly average number of casefiles in 2018 is 5.5 times higher than the monthly average of 2017.