Financial Supervisory Service warns of loan interest rate pitfalls

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has issued warnings to consumers regarding common pitfalls in bank loan management, specifically concerning preferential interest rates and the risks of delinquency.

To qualify for interest rate discounts based on salary transfers, consumers must ensure their salary information is properly registered in banking apps. For non-face-to-face applications, details such as workplace name and payday must be updated. Additionally, when transferring funds from other accounts, users should include descriptors like ‘salary’, ‘wage’, or ‘bonus’ in the transaction memo to ensure the bank's system recognizes the transfer as salary-related.

The FSS also highlighted the risk of losing the ‘benefit of time’ (acceleration of maturity) due to delinquency. For household loans, failing to pay interest for one month or missing two consecutive installment payments can trigger a requirement to repay the entire loan balance immediately. For mortgage loans, these thresholds are two months and three consecutive missed payments, respectively.

Finally, the regulator advised that interest rates on variable-rate loans may be recalculated during maturity extensions based on changes in base and spread rates. Consumers were urged to maintain good credit scores, as a decline in creditworthiness could lead banks to refuse extensions or demand partial repayment.