At an extraordinary session held on Monday, July 27, the Executive Board of the National Bank of Serbia adopted regulations that allow debtors to additionally defer obligations on the basis of loans, credit products and leasing.
In accordance with these regulations, debtors are allowed another delay in the repayment of liabilities to banks and financial leasing entities that fall due in the period from August 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020, as well as a delay in the repayment of liabilities that are due in July this year, and the debtor did not settle them.
– The NBS reacted efficiently and decisively to the first blow of the pandemic, enabling citizens and the economy to delay the repayment of obligations to banks and financial leasing providers for a period of three months. The importance and timeliness of such a decision is evidenced by the fact that more than 90% of debtors used this opportunity – Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovi pointed out.
She added that “given that the emergency health situation continues, the NBS has made a decision to provide additional respite to our citizens and the economy in repaying obligations, thus fulfilling the legally defined goal of preserving the stability of the financial system.”
The moratorium applies to liabilities based on loans and credit products of the bank (such as minuses and credit cards), as well as other products of the bank (such as obligations based on interest rate hedging instruments related to loans or credit products, bank guarantees).
As the central bank pointed out, the moratorium does not apply to obligations for payment services (commission for execution of transactions, account maintenance fee), investment services, broker-dealer operations, safe-related services).
Banks and financial leasing providers are obliged to offer a delay in the repayment of obligations to individuals, farmers, entrepreneurs and companies by July 31, 2020.
The notice on the offer of the bank and the financial leasing provider will be published on their website, and contains information on the beginning of application and duration of the moratorium, calculation of interest, method of repayment of obligations after the moratorium, possible alternative methods of repayment, as well as a representative example and after the end of the moratorium.
If the debtor does not reject the offer within ten days from the day of publishing the notice of the offer, it shall be considered that he has accepted the offer.
The debtor may reject the offer of the moratorium electronically, by regular mail, by telephone or in the business premises of the bank and the lessor, within ten days from the date of publication of the notice of offer, but also to cancel the moratorium during its duration, requiring it from the bank or by payment in full of due and unpaid obligations.
During the moratorium, the bank and the lessor do not charge regular (agreed) interest on liabilities that fall due during the moratorium. The Bank shall calculate the regular interest on the outstanding debt and the amount of the regular interest shall correspond to the amount of that interest in the repayment plan which was valid before the entry into force of this Decision.
If the debtor is a company, then the bank and the lessor of financial leasing can also calculate the regular interest on the amounts of the debt principal that fall due during the moratorium.
When it comes to default interest, it will not be calculated on the unsettled claim that is due during the moratorium. In addition, no enforcement proceedings will be initiated, as well as no forced collection proceedings against the debtor, ie no other legal actions will be taken in order to collect these claims.
Upon termination of the moratorium, the bank and the lessor will distribute the calculated regular interest evenly over the repayment period (without attributing the principal to the debt), with the repayment period being extended for the duration of the moratorium.
Default interest calculated during the period of the moratorium on claims due before the moratorium is applied will be evenly distributed over the repayment period (without attributing the principal to the debt).
During the moratorium on credit card liabilities and current account overdrafts, the bank charges regular (agreed) interest on the used amount, while the validity of credit card overdrafts is extended for the duration of the moratorium, eKapija reports.
