Since the beginning of the year and to date, as many as 300 negotiations concluded with reconciliation of the parties, of which 294 with banks and 6 with NBFIs. Value wise, the range of the benefits obtained is very wide: from benefits below RON 100 (in cases where consumers reported matters of principle in their relations to banks), to the bank writing-off the entire debt. We have witnesses also a value record for a loan in EUR: a bank wrote-off a debt of EUR 60,000.  Because this summer we saw bank encouraging their consumers to turn to ABDRC, we wanted to find out for ourselves what the consumers involved in some of the cases resolved thought. Learn about them in the enclosed release, as well as how the strategies pursued by banks are seen by the Centre’s conciliators. (more…)

Conciliation between Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) and their clients is still rather shy in terms of results, even after five years of operation of the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre (ABDRC). While there are 60% more applications filed with NBFIs this year compared to last year, the Non-Banking Financial Institutions only agreed to negotiate on 22 such consumer applications. Of these, in only five cases the negotiations concluded with an agreement between the parties, which is 55 times less than in the case of banks. Unfortunately, this year only two NBFIs accepted to engage in negotiations with consumers via ABDRC. (more…)

Last year, in 85% of the negotiations conducted between consumers and banks, the parties accepted the solution rendered by the ABDRC conciliators. The trend of the last months sees a lower number of accepted solutions. Now, only 80% of negotiations concluded with parties “making peace”. The refusal of consumers to take up on an offer or solution was the main reason for which 65% of these negotiations failed. The enclosed document tackles the causes of these refusals, plus a number of examples of solutions proposed by conciliators, but turned down by the parties. There are also some pieces of advice that the ABDRC conciliators give to consumers, banks and NBFIs. (more…)

Since 1 March 2016, we have witnessed more than 1,500 negotiations between consumers and banks/NBFIS, of which 1,300 concluded with an agreement between the parties thereto. Overall, consumers have so far obtained benefits of EUR 3.5 million further to these negotiations. ABDRC establishment put in place, for the first time in Romania, the legal framework for such negotiations on a contract in progress. Thus, the relationships between banks and consumers could be rebalanced by reducing or even removing fees, reducing interest, or writing off or down the principal and other ancillary lending costs. The value records are as high as RON 298,000, CHF 44,600 or EUR 52,000, and some cased ended up being resolved in just one day. Of the loans submitted to conciliation, 54% are in RON, 23% in EUR and 20% in CHF. (more…)

During a period marked by the pandemic-triggered economic hardships, the ABDRC representatives recommend to the financial and banking institutions a number of measures required for the best possible outcome of the negotiations between consumers and banks. The key recommendation regards the applications received by ABDRC from consumers, but which are then rejected by banks/NBFIs. Their number should be reduced, say the representatives of ABDRC, in particular during a period when the flexibility of banks/NBFIs and the support afforded to consumers are mandatory for them to preserve their trust in the financial and banking institutions. (more…)

The case of family of Bucharest stands for a good example of both the solutions that can be achieved with ABDRC, as well as the contribution of conciliators to the negotiation process and the online conciliation work itself, which has been mainstreamed during this period of sanitary restrictions. Thus, a family with three children, who used to struggle to repay two loans denominated in CHF taken from two different banks, was helped by the Centre have one principal written off, and another written down by 30%. All of these were accomplished in less than half a year of submission of the first application. (more…)

The end of the state of emergency sees a sharp increase in the number of applications submitted by consumers to negotiate with banks via the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre (ABDRC). While last year the Centre received, in average, 41 negotiation applications a week, last week we registered 122 applications, an all-time high in our 4-year history. This is a sign that consumers did act upon the recommendations made by the largest commercial banks in Romania as to the benefits of negotiations via ABDRC. (more…)

The work of the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre (ABDRC) continues by email and phone, and the number of applications received and casefiles formed over the last couple of weeks stays close to that reported during a normal period. One of the cases resolved during this period of time regards a consumer of Cluj who obtained benefits amounting to approximately EUR 11,500 as reimbursements and written off fees.
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The negotiations carried out in the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Centre (ABDRC) have provided benefits of EUR 2.67 million to both consumers and the entire Romanian banking system in years 2016-2019. Close to half of this amount (EUR 1.25 mil.) consist of payment relief for 2019. As the benefits of conciliation will become increasingly bigger, the number of applications filed and understanding reached between consumers and banks/NBFIs would also increase, and the scope of the Centre’s powers would enlarge. After almost 4 years since its activity start, ABDRC has become available also to legal entities.
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