Poland’s consumer protection agency has charged three banks – BNP Paribas Bank Polska, Getin Noble Bank and Bank Pocztowy – for “violating the interests of consumers” when implementing the recently introduced “credit holidays”, which allow loan repayments to be temporarily suspended.
Under the new system, which was introduced in July, people who hold a mortgage in zloty for their own housing needs can suspend repayments for a maximum of eight months over 2022 and 2023, though for more than two months per quarter.
Initially, some banks required consumers to apply for mortgage suspension separately for each period. That caught the eye of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), a state watchdog, which called on banks to stop the practice.
While many banks have complied with that request, BNP Paribas Bank Polska, Getin Noble Bank and Bank Pocztowy (which is majority owned by Poland’s post office), still do not allow a single application for all selected periods in their e-banking system.
“Following our calls, most banks are leaving consumers the choice of suspending all instalments allowed by the regulations in one application or doing it gradually in several, separate applications,” said UOKiK’s president, Tomasz Chróstny.
Prezes #UOKiK postawił zarzuty naruszania zbiorowych interesów konsumentów 3 bankom, które uniemożliwiają konsumentom wystąpienia o wakacje kredytowe na wszystkie okresy za pomocą jednego wniosku.
Czytaj więcej ➡️ https://t.co/xXNffeUpbA#banki #wakacjekredytowe pic.twitter.com/ld959jZldQ— UOKiK (@UOKiKgovPL) September 5, 2022
“The three banks that have not yet changed this have been charged with violating the collective interests of consumers,” he added. They face penalties of up to 10% of their annual turnover.
According to data from the Credit Information Bureau (BIK), by 30 August, mortgage holders of 876,000 loans worth 228 billion zloty (€48.21 billion) have benefited from “credit holidays”
This means that approximately 44% of those eligible have taken advantage of the scheme, which is intended to ease the burden on households having to cope with the costs of loan instalments after interest rates rose to their highest level in more than 15 years as the central bank responds to soaring inflation.
Poland's central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate by 50bps (less than forecast by analysts) to 6.5%, the highest level since February 2005.
The rise is the tenth in a row since last October, as the bank responds to Poland's highest inflation in 25 years pic.twitter.com/VJNBy8sZ6o
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 7, 2022
The central bank may raise the interest rates again during a policy meeting on Wednesday. Its governor, Adam Glapiński, suggested in July that September was likely to see the Monetary Policy Council will either hold hikes or raise the rate by 0.25 percentage points.
In August, however, inflation surprised economists by accelerating again. Now, while most still believe that a September hike will be at 0.25 percentage points, mBank analysts noted that “the latest inflation surprise has shifted risks towards a 50bp hike”.
Main photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
