After discussions with the bankers, BNR (National Bank of Romania) accepted to remove the stress-test procedure from the new loan rules, but it discouraged the credit institutions to practice promotional interest rates. Thus, the last version of the rules is stipulating that the maximum annuity which a person can engage to pay monthly will not be modified until the contract.

Consequently, it will be impossible to set a very low promotional interest rate in opposition to the real interest rate which applies to all customers, because, after the ending of the promotional period, when the interest will grow, the maximum annuity calculated for the initial interest can’t be increased.

Also, the banks will be obliged to calculate the indebt rate differentiated on customer categories, loan destination, credit type, respective in national or foreign currency , with fixed or variable interest.

The new changes of loan rules will be discussed Wednesday, August 20, by the Administration Council of BNR.