• The President of UOKiK has verified the rules for charging debt collection fees by financial institutions.
• All entrepreneurs should keep in mind that these fees must correspond to the costs they actually incurred, e.g. when sending a letter.
• After the intervention of the office, the entrepreneurs ceased to charge debt collection fees or significantly reduced them.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection received complaints about the level of debt collection fees charged by banks, loans companies and SKOKs. Therefore, the president of the office sent the so-called soft requests. This procedure allows to quickly eliminate suspected irregularities without commencing any proceedings. The office describes its doubts and gives the entrepreneur time to change.

In his enquiries, the President of UOKiK asked about the costs charged to consumers by the financial institutions for sending a reminder or for a debt collector’s visit and in what order they applied these measures and how often. “There is no doubt that debts have to be repaid, so when the consumer is late with paying their instalment, companies have the right to remind them about the arrears. However, the fees that they charge for debt collection activities are supposed to correspond to the costs incurred. Irrespective of the sector. Such activities must be taken gradually – from the least expensive to the most expensive ones. In addition, they must be spread over time so that the consumer is able to become familiar with the reminder and repay the arrears”, says Marek Niechciał, the President of UOKiK. The effect of activities taken by the office: financial institutions ceased to charge debt collection fees or significantly reduced them. Currently, the office is reviewing the costs that other banks or SKOKs charge to consumers.

The so-called soft activities of the office concerned:

• Aasa – ceased to charge fees for reminders. It only charges interest for late payment. Earlier, the fees amounted to: PLN 25 for a reminder, PLN 49 for
  a request for payment and for referring the claims to debt collection.
• Alior Bank – ceased to charge fees for field debt collection (which amounted to
  PLN 85) and fees for a reminder sent by ordinary mail (earlier, PLN 25). At the same time, the bank changed the contractual clause, so that the fee for registered letter would be PLN 4.20 (instead of PLN 40), whereas the fee for a registered letter with a confirmation of receipt would be PLN 6.20.
• Bank BPH – ceased to charge fees for requests for repayment and modified provisions of the contract template in this regard. Earlier, the fees amounted to: PLN 30 (or CHF8 / EUR 7 / USD 10) for a letter, PLN 35 for a telephone call.
• Bank Handlowy - ceased to charge fees for reminders in relation to all consumers who are credit card holders (regardless of the date of the contract) and removed contractual provisions regarding fees for debt collection activities from contract templates. The fees amounted to: PLN 25 for a letter, PLN 35 for a telephone call.
• Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski – set the amount of fees for debt collection activities at the level of: PLN 4 for a registered letter or registered letter with a confirmation of receipt and PLN 0 for informing the consumer about arrears in payment. In addition, the bank ceased to charge fees for information on arrears provided in written requests sent by ordinary mail. The fees amounted to: PLN 15 for a reminding letter, PLN 10 for a reminding telephone call.
• Raiffeisen Bank Polska - ceased to charge fees for the monitoring of the timely repayment by the customer and modified provisions of the contract template in this regard. The bank used to charge PLN 35.
• Spółdzielcza Kasa Oszczędnościowo-Kredytowa im. Franciszka Stefczyka in Gdynia – ceased to charge the fees for reminding text messages (SMS) and field debt collection. In addition, the bank changed the fees for the notification/request sent to the consumer (maximum fees may amount to PLN 3.94). Earlier, the fee for field debt collection was PLN 94.15, telephone PLN 9.81, and letter PLN 19.82.

In addition, the office conducted proceedings against: Maestro Finance (a decision declaring the clauses to be abusive), Getin Noble Bank (investigation procedure), Bank Spółdzielczy in Szczebrzeszyn (investigation procedure), Bank Spółdzielczy in Kurów (investigation procedure) – the entrepreneurs reduced the fees or ceased to charge them.

Additional information for the consumers:

Phone 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer helpline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Branches of Consumer Federation
Consumer ombudsmen – in your town or county

Contact for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone: +48 695 902 088
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL