Consumer organization reports a drastic surge of complaints against banks in 2012

The number of complaints filed against the banks in our country has increased drastically since the beginning of 2012, announced the Bulgarian Commission for Consumer Protection on the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day. In contrast to 2011 when only 64 valid signals were submitted for violations of the set terms and conditions for the provision of financial services, for the first three months of this year alone, the number of complaints reached already about 60. Although these claims were relatively few in number, they are of paramount economic importance, commented Vesselin Zlatev, Chairman of the Commission.

CPC representatives also stated that they had a good communication with the banks. They had already provided the financial institutions with stipulations for waiving the already set clauses. The main breach on their part was that the debtor had not been granted the opportunity to check nor be informed when his/her interest rate was raised, resulting in an increase of his liabilities owed to the bank. Because of the unequal unfair clauses in general terms for loan granting, at least half of the banks encountered problems, added Zlatev. In fact, such controversial points have affected negatively the bank clients borrowing loans. Besides, the main sectoral audit of all financial institutions will be not completed before mid-June.

Overall in 2011 some 21,000 complaints were lodged with the Commission and 16,000 of these or about 70% were substantiated. Out of all the signalsa, some 5000 were submitted online.

Last year the majority of complaints targeted mobile operators

Following the legislative amendments, this year a stable trend was observed in relation to the number of claims filed against the telecom operators. The latter were followed by the lodged claims against various goods and services. Among them, the most frequent alarming signals concerned the fraud sale of household electronics, clothing and footwear as well as ill-conducted training courses and offered travel packages. Many complaints were also filed for many goods were not labeled with instructions in Bulgarian or were missing stickers indicating the product price.

In fact, the conducted survey of the supervisory body among nearly 1,700 people shows that bank clients are not well informed. The data are explicit that more than half of Bulgarian consumers do not know that within two weeks after the conclusion of their loan contract they can waive it without having to substantiate their decision. The public unawareness is extremely weak also regarding the terminology used by banks and concerning the other consumer rights. One in every two Bulgarian citizens is unaware of the fact that the list of the general bank terms and conditions should be exhibited in conspicuous place at the financial institution. Over three quarters of Bulgarians are unaware of the fact that before borrowing a loan, they have the right to receive a complete information thereof. Regarding the marketing research before signing a contract, however, the obtained results are encouraging. Actually, people never approach the first bank they come across: four out of every five Bulgarians survey the terms and conditions of the various institutions before choosing the most advantageous one for them.

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