The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced today that it has never taken the position that banks are not entitled to a fee for loan processing, which can be concluded from certain media allegations.
The NBS statement also states that this inaccurate information “may unreasonably generate risks that may affect the stability of the financial system.”
“Moreover, the Law on Protection of Financial Services Users stipulates that the loan agreement must contain the type and amount of all fees borne by the borrower. It is important to point out that fees and costs related to loan realization (processing, monitoring and loan administration), which the bank charges from the user, are included in the calculation of the effective interest rate and it is the legal obligation of the bank to clearly present them to the user in the pre-contractual phase, ie to express them in the offer,” the statement added.
The NBS also states that banks are obliged to calculate the effective interest rate in a uniformly prescribed manner in order to compare identical offers of different banks.
The Central Bank also announced that it has prescribed an obligation for banks to provide the user with complete and clear information and appropriate explanations on the conditions related to the loan agreement, which include information on the costs that the user has in connection with the loan.
“The user, based on the information provided by the bank as the other party, and in accordance with the general principles of contract law – autonomy of will and freedom of contract, decides whether to conclude a loan agreement with the bank and what elements it will have,” they say from NBS.
The Central Bank reminds that the Supreme Court of Cassation has taken the position that “the bank has the right to collect costs and fees for banking services” and that “the costs of loan processing and loan issuance, as well as other costs that the bank charges the user during loan approvals or which are known on the day of settlement and which the bank charges to the user during the implementation of the loan agreement, may be expressed as a percentage and are charged only through the calculation of the effective interest rate”, Nova Ekonomija reports.
