The decision to lower wages in the public sector by 25%, that was announced on Thursday by president Traian Băsescu could lead to an increase in the number of people that would default on their loans, experts say.
Ruxandra Andrei, general manager of the loan comparison portal "Finzoom", said that until recently, public sector workers would get additional points on their credit rating, when applying for loans: "Most of the time they would be considered as less likely to default, due to their steady sources of income, a situation which has changed in the meantime".
The solutions that banks can resort to in this situation are either lowering the interest rate for ongoing loans, rescheduling payments or awarding a grace period for people who have trouble making their payments.
Cornel Cojocaru, the spokesperson for BCR, said banks can not lower the interest rates for ongoing loans, due to the interest rates that they borrowed at themselves.
On the other hand, Ruxandra Andrei said that since the beginning of the year, several banks have already lowered the interest rates for loans.
The representative of Finzoom advises those who have trouble making their loan payments to try and negotiate a rescheduling of their loans or the granting of a grace period: "Banks are willing to reschedule. People who are unable to make their payments, should notify the bank right away, without any delay, because overdue loan payments would fall under the incidence of the debtor regulations of the NBR".
The Finzoom representative presented one such example of family in which the husband, who was a public sector worker, took out a loan under the "First home" program together with his spouse. The man"s salary has now been cut to 1,000 lei, as he is no longer receiving performance bonuses which increased his revenues to 2,500 lei.
If the salaries of publi
