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 Dragoş 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.
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 refi
