Bankers are trying to persuade competitors’ customers with a good repayment history to refinance their debts, offering them lower interests or waiving loan fees, amid complaints about a shortage of demand for new loans. In order to revive their lending business, banks are even willing to take over several loans from the same debtor and consolidate them or lend a larger amount to customers than needed for the refinancing.
The first offers for credit refinancing emerged in the summer
amid the application of Ordinance 50, which sets out more
transparent lending terms, with its main provision being the
elimination of the early repayment fee, a major obstacle for
customers seeking to refinance their loans.
“The early repayment fee was a rather significant hurdle. In their
bid to find good customers, banks can come with attractive interest
rates. The elimination of other types of fees was only a matter of
competition, and as competition started to heat up, they started to
go down,” comments financial analyst Dragoș Cabat. Competition on
this segment has intensified in the past few months, with nearly
all big and medium-sized players coming up with refinancing
products. Piraeus Bank is the latest bank to come up with a
refinancing loan in RON and in euros, with interest rate margins of
4.75% above Robor and 5.9% above Euribor, without an origination
fee provided that the loan does not exceed the amount necessary for
the refinancing.