The Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Center managed, in the first half of the year, 162 compliant applications received from consumers who claimed a dispute with a bank or a NBFI based on Romania

• (approximately) 4,300 consumer requests by phone;
• 416 written applications, of which:
  • 162 of the written applications were found compliant;
  • 246 were questions or requests for miscellaneous//general information;
  • 8 non-compliant applications.

Of the 162 compliant applications:

• 38 casefiles formed (4 casefiles originating in applications submitted in the end of last year);
• 23 in screening phase (review of documents);
• 105 closed;

Breakdown of the 38 casefiles managed under the conciliation procedure:

• 22 casefiles resolved;
• 9 casefiles in the stage of discussions or meetings with the parties;
• 5 preliminary casefiles;
• 1 inadmissibility resolution;
• 1 casefile in which the trader withdrew from the procedure.

NOTE:

Both the interest and awareness of the consumers of ABDRC have raised compared to last year. The results of the first 6 months of 2017 are better than for the entire 2016, according to the figure compared:

In 2016 (March – December), the following were registered:

• 235 compliant applications – 23.5 applications per month;
• 46 casefiles – 4.6 casefiles per month;
• 26 non-compliant applications – 2.6/month.

In 2017 (January – June), the following were registered:

• 162 applications – 27 applications per month;
• 38 casefiles – 6.33 casefiles per month;
• 8 non-compliant applications – 1.33/month.

Examples of cases resolved this year:

• Personal loan in EUR (resolved in 8 days)

• removal of the management fee (EUR 56/month);
• the bank returned EUR 1,800;
• the consumer repaid the loan earlier.

• Mortgage + personal loan with mortgage in EUR

• interest rate reduction from 9.5% down to 3.5% p.a. for both loans;
• removal of the management fee;
• reduction of the principal by EUR 7,000;
• the monthly instalment was reduced from EUR 700 down to EUR 310;

• Mortgage loan in EUR

• removal of the risk fee (EUR 90/month);
• return of EUR 3,000;
• the monthly instalment was reduced from EUR 350 down to EUR 260;

• Mortgage loan in EUR – case resolved online

• interest rate reduction from 9.75% down to 5.75% p.a.
• instalment reduction from EUR 207 down to EUR 95;
• reduction of principal by EUR 3,100.

The applications received from consumers targeted the following types of claims:

• return of the management, risk, monitoring or other categories of fees;
• rescheduling/staging-out of the loan with reduction of the monthly instalment;
• return of the amount resulted from the excessive increase of the interest rate, as perceived by consumers;
• removal of clauses qualified by consumers as abusive, as regards application of default interests;
• deregistration of entries in the Credit Register, etc.

Main reasons for closing compliant applications:

• traders do not belong to the category of those the business of which is regulated by the National Bank of Romania pursuant to the Government Ordinance no. 38/2015 (assigned claims);
• claimants are not consumers, as defined in the Government Ordinance no. 21/1992;
• the trader refused resolution of the dispute under ADR procedures for the following reasons:
  • pending court proceedings where a final solution/court judgment is expected;
  • the agreement observes the legal provisions (in the trader’s opinion);
  • attempts of direct amicable settlement are in progress between the consumer and the trader;
  • several offers were made, but all have been turned down by the consumer (before approaching ABDRC);
  • forced execution procedures have already been initiated;
• no reasons provided.

About ABDRC:

The Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Center is an independent apolitical not-for-profit entity of public interest established under the Government Ordinance no. 38/2015. The purpose of ABDRC is to manage the infrastructure required for alternative resolution of the disputes between consumers and the banking and financial institutions in a balanced, reasonable, expeditious and out-of-court manner, working with experts in the banking and financial sector (conciliators) who, according to the procedure chosen by the parties, may propose or identify an amicable resolution solution for the dispute.