The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has never taken the position that banks are not entitled to a fee for loan processing, which is stated by some media, and which could cause risks to the stability of the financial system, the NBS announced today.
As explained, the Law on the Protection of Users of Financial Services 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 the realization of the loan (costs of processing, monitoring and administration of the loan) charged by the bank are included in the calculation of the effective interest rate and the bank is legally obliged to present them clearly to the user in the pre-contractual phase, that is, it expresses them in the offer, so that the user is acquainted in a transparent way with all the costs that fall on his burden,” stated the NBS.
It was pointed out that banks are obliged to calculate the effective interest rate in a uniformly prescribed manner in order to compare similar offers of different banks.
The NBS stated that through the legislative framework, it prescribed the 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.
As the NBS reminded, the Supreme Court of Cassation also took the position that “the bank has the right to collect costs and fees for banking services, so the provision of the loan agreement which obliges the borrower to pay the loan costs to the bank is void provided that the bank’s offer contains clear and unambiguous data on loan costs”.
Loan processing and exchange rate costs, as well as other costs that the bank charges to the user when approving the loan or that are known on the day of settlement and which the bank charges to the user during the loan agreement, can be expressed as a percentage and are charged only through calculation of the effective interest rate, is the position of that court, Novi Magazin reports.
