The negotiations carried out through ABDRC have provided benefits of EUR 1.015 million. Compared to the figure reported in 2017, the amount of 2018 is three times higher. “The fact that we went over the threshold of EUR 1 million shows, on one hand, that increasingly more Romanian have pursued the dialogue avenue through ABDRC to the detriment of having their disputes settled in court, and, on the other hand, the willingness of the banks to negotiate”, says Alexandru Păunescu, member in the Steering Board of ABDRC.

The negotiations carried out through the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre (ABDRC) have provided benefits of EUR 1.015 million to both consumers and the entire Romanian banking system. Thus, the respective amount represents a reduced payment effort for the Romanian consumers in 2018 and, at the same time, allows the two parties to continue their contractual relations. Compared to the figure reported in 2017, the amount of 2018 is three times higher.

“If we are to consider that in 2017 the Romanian consumers had their payment effort reduced by EUR 303 thousand further to their negotiations with banks, the increase we see this year is simply remarkable. The fact that we went over the threshold of EUR 1 million shows, on one hand, that increasingly more Romanian have pursued the dialogue avenue through ABDRC to the detriment of having their disputes settled in court, and, on the other hand, the willingness of the banks to negotiate”, said Alexandru Păunescu, member in the Steering Board of ABDRC.

Record amount in 2018

Value wise, the most important case settled by the ABDRC conciliators last year involved a consumer of Bucharest who obtained a reduction of his payment effort by close to EUR 39,000. In this particular case, the bank accepted not to charge the management fee anymore in the future, and to repay him the financing fee. The same consumer, and again through ABDRC, had his principal of EUR 18,000 written off for a loan contracted from another bank.

2018 saw an almost triple number of applications submitted to ABDRC

Remarkable results were seen in 2018: the applications received from consumers exceeded the threshold of 1,000 as early as November, and the year ended with 1,293 applications. Only 505 applications had been received in 2017.

The number of case files created in 2018 increased by 255% compared to the number of casefiles created in the previous year: from 214 files created in 2017, up to 550 casefiles in 2018. Of these casefiles, 90% saw a favorable settlement, with the parties reaching an agreement.

The work of the Center was rendered even efficient last year by the newly-introduced online app the consumers can use to submit their conciliation applications. Since the app was introduced, that is in late July, and until the end of the year, as many as 365 applications were received directly on the website, via the app (accounting for approximately 30% of the total number of compliant applications registered in 2018).

Projects for 2019

This year, ABDRC shall continue the awareness-raising campaign intended to consumers with the ABDRC Roadshow. In 2018, the representatives of the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre reached out to the consumers of Timișoara, Cluj – Napoca, Constanța and Iași to present them the benefits of conciliation.

This year, the ABDRC Roadshow intends to travel to other important cities of the country, such as Craiova, Brașov, Sibiu or Oradea.
Consumers may thus find out that the entire procedure is free of charge for them, and it takes not more than 90 days to have a casefile settled. Additionally, the conciliators riding with the Roadshow offer first-hand information about how the negotiations with the banks actually unfold.

For the same purpose of a good communication with consumers, this year ABDRC envisages making available also a call-center system.