RON 700 per month: with this amount the instalment of a consumer was reduced further to turning to ABDRC. The journalists from Digi24 talked to him, and reported on the results of his negotiations with the bank! (more…)

Year of 2017 confirmed the increasing openness of the banks towards resolution of disputes through the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre and with the help of conciliators. The number of casefiles resolved with ABDRC increased to 214 casefile, that is almost five times more than in the previous year.

In 2017, the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre managed as many as 1,165 written applications, that is 150% more than in 2016. Of these, 505 were compliant applications, that is 115% more than in 2016. More than 70% of the applications were accepted also by the commercial banks or non-banking financial institutions involved.

Reduction of various fees, reduction of the monthly instalment or rescheduling of loans are only some of the claims which are received by ABDRC. During the last year, NBFIs and banks have proven more available to find solutions which are beneficial for clients, the claims of which thus no longer end up in courts.

A debtor in Swiss Francs received back half of the initial principal after having reached an agreement with the bank under the amicable dispute settlement procedures managed by ABDRC. This is not a one-off case. For the time being, more than 300 Romanian have turned to ABDRC, as many as 120 casefiles have been formed, and 50 of them are already in screening phase.

An original report, with questions and answers about the relation between consumers and banks. Opinions are divided, but for sure a consumer who is not happy with a service sold by a bank or a NBFI may turn to the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre at any time during the term of the agreement with the trader, and resolution is free of charge for them. 

Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania: “Many disputes occur due to lack of information, lack of knowledge, or misunderstandings. The costs of such disputes are burdensome for both parties and, if we aim to have the lowest possible costs of loans, reduced interests, and lower fees, we need to consider these costs, too”.

The dispute with commercial banks can be resolved also without going to court. ABDRC can help resolve amicably disputes in connection with removal and repayment of the risk/management fee charged for a loan, rescheduling/staging-out of the loan with reduction of the monthly instalment, reduced interest rates and repayment of the amount resulted from excessive increased in the interest rates, reduction of principal and conversion of the loans in CHF into RON, or removal of contractual clauses.

A family of Bucharest obtained with ABDRC conversion into RON, reduction of the principal and of the interest. These changes are seen in the monthly instalments which dropped from RON 2,400 (CHF 555) down to RON 1,700.