The consumer protection Authority has ruled that Vivus Finance misled consumers by failing to provide reliable information in its ads for quick loans. 

Vivus Finance is a Warsaw-based non-bank lender that in November and part of December 2014 placed ads on television, the internet and leaflets for loans it claimed to grant in just 15 minutes. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) opened proceedings and analysed the ads, ultimately ruling the company infringed consumer interests.

While the ads promised clients the quick loans, they did not state that the 15-minute wait began only once a loan application was approved. According to UOKiK, such ads should indicate precisely when the lender will actually deliver the loan to the consumer’s bank account. By omitting this information in its ads, Vivus Finance misled consumers and could have induced them to enter into an agreement they would not have, had they had reliable information. Ruling that Vivus infringed collective consumer interests, UOKiK ordered the company to publish the decision on its website as well as in the online and paper editions of three national dailies with circulation of at least 100,000. The decision may be appealed in Poland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Court (SOKiK).

In the coming months, UOKiK will be examining whether enterprises from the financial sector use in advertisements unlawful practices like those described in the Vivus decision.

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
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]

Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL