The practice of charging consumers administrative fees for the preparation of the loan agreements and transfer of the money lent has been questioned by Poland's consumer protection Authority.

It has come to the consumer protection Authority's attention that consumers of firms that offer quick loans are often subjected to misleading advertising, lack of important information about the loan and the loan agreement, excessive fees and difficulty with withdrawing from the agreement.

As such, the Office looked into the Warsaw-based MiniCredit loan company and questioned its practice of charging consumers administrative fees for the preparation of the loan agreements and transfer of the money. According to the law, the consumer should receive the loan agreement free of charge, while any additional costs should be equal to the costs actually incurred by the loan company. The Office believes that administrative work that leads to the signing of a loan agreement is not a separate service or product and should be free of charge or financed by the loan company itself.

The Office has therefore ruled that the prohibited practices be stopped.

The above showcases the need for Poland to monitor the loan market closely and introduce new rules. This is why the country's parliament is currently working on a new government Act on supervision over the financial market that aims to increase consumer protection on the loan market, also by eliminating companies that act without a permit or commit fraud.

The new regulations will expand the authority of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority to other areas of the financial market, will tighten criminal penalties for prohibited practices, introduce mandatory requirements for firms that offer consumer loans (for example, their own base capital will need to be of at least 200 thousand PLN). The new Act will also set limits on fees, interest that the loan companies will be able to charge and define rules of information access about the loans outside the banking sector.

Additional information for the media:

Press Office, UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone.: +48 22 827 28 92, +48 22 55 60 314, +48 22 55 60 430
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