Woman cumulates overdue loan payments to 13 banks

A woman has overdue payments to no less than 13 commercial banks after taking out a long series of credits throughout 2005 and 2006. The first overdue payments appeared at the end of last year, and since then, have grown in number, according to data from the Credit Bureau. The total sum of overdue payments accumulated so far is, however, a modest one: 7,900 RON (equivalent to a little more than 2,300 euros). The biggest overdue sum owed by an individual, recorded several months ago, stands at 200,000 euros and resulted from credit granted for real estate. “This woman could get so many credits because she had no overdue payments at the time when she was taking out loans. If the banks in question had sent and received positive information from the Credit Bureau, they would have received the information on the already contracted loans,” comments Serban Epure, general manager of the Credit Bureau. Currently, only eight banks in the system provide positive information (containing data on credits taken out by a client) to the Credit Bureau system. The company was created by commercial banks in 2004, to collect information on the market of credits granted to individuals. At first, banks only reported negative data (overdue payments accumulated by clients, data on whether they provided false information or received a definitive sentence for bank-related crime). Now, the Bureau covers 97% of the retail market, with 23 banks reporting negative information. In 2005, the Bureau moved to the second stage of implementation, in which participants should also provide positive information.