Refinancing of old loans will remain difficult even after the capping of the early repayment fee, because bankers are much stricter in the evaluation of their clients now than two years ago, with fewer people currently able to borrow sufficient amounts to cover older debts, although interest rates have fallen lately. So bankers say we will not witness a market readjustment.
"The market is quite tight - interest rate differences from one bank to another are small - many banks have tightened their lending policies and clients' incomes are dwindling. It is difficult to refinance a loan at present," says Lucian Cojocaru, executive manager of the commercial pole of the BRD network, the second largest bank on the Romanian market.
Once the new ordinance on consumer loans comes into force, banks will be allowed to charge an early repayment fee of no more than 1% (even 0.5% if the repayment occurs in the last contract year) and only for fixed interest rate loans, not for loans with a variable interest rate.
Refinancing of old loans will remain difficult even after the capping of the early repayment fee, because bankers are much stricter in the evaluation of their clients now than two years ago, with fewer people currently able to borrow sufficient amounts to cover older debts, although interest rates have fallen lately. So bankers say we will not witness a market readjustment.
"The market is quite tight - interest rate differences from one bank to another are small - many banks have tightened their lending policies and clients' incomes are dwindling. It is difficult to refinance a loan at present," says Lucian Cojocaru, executive manager of the commercial pole of the BRD network, the second largest bank on the Romanian market.
Once the new ordinance on consumer loans comes into force, banks will be allowed to charge an early repayment fee of
