At the beginning of 2008, a series of clients of a commercial bank from Romania received an unwanted “gift”: a notification by means of which they were informed that the bank had decided to raise the bank fees associated to the credit portfolio; as a consequence, they were to pay a supplementary 0.5% worth monthly fee, applied to the credit balance; therefore, the new terms imposed a recalculation of the monthly installment, as well as the draw up of a new reimbursement schedule, which could be obtained at branch of the bank where the account had been opened.

There are also bank clients that, while reading the contractual clauses, have raised the problem of the legality of these modifications, thus realizing that there is no provision in the contract that gives the bank the right to introduce a new fee or to modify the existing one over the credit’s period of validity.

credit contract, general business conditions, bank fees