HNB Introduces Application and Informative List of Loan Offers from All Banks

The Croatian National Bank is introducing an application and an informative list of loan offers from all banks in Croatia, through which consumers can compare terms, and soon also fees for various services offered by individual banks.

– The informative list of loan offers contains basic information about loans from banks and credit institutions. The purpose of the informative list and the mHNB application is to enable consumers to compare bank offers based on 7 basic criteria, reported the governor of the HNB, Boris Vujčić.

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Thus, someone intending to take out a loan for the first time can inform themselves about the loan offers at one place (via the application or on the HNB web portal) and obtain the following information:

1. The maximum amount (in HRK and with a currency clause in EUR)
2. The longest term (in months)
3. Indication of whether the loan has variable, fixed, or combined interest rates
4. Reference parameter (variable and combined interest rates)
5. Amount of effective interest rate
6. Fixed margin (variable interest rates)
7. The highest fee for early final repayment of the loan (all loans – specifically highlighted for loans contracted before and after 2010)

In addition to searching by the specified conditions, the HNB management emphasized that banks that do not have a fixed interest rate in their loan offers must provide the client with the HND Informative List, so that the consumer can potentially choose a loan from a competitor that offers a fixed interest rate. Vujčić also announced that the HNB will soon publish a list of bank fees.

– The differences in fees that banks charge for services currently range from a few percent to several times more or less. We will soon publish an informative list of fees, bank cost lists, added Vujčić.

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The replacement of loans with variable interest rates with those with fixed rates, along with the complete abolition of fees for early repayment of loans (even those contracted in 2010), is part of the recommendations that the HNB has given to banks, aimed, among other things, at reducing interest rate risk.

Banks are expected to provide accurate and timely information, as the informative lists will be updated daily. Recommendations, including the one that “…when offering a fixed interest rate, banks should not deviate from the one currently offered, i.e., the market rate,” and that “…they should offer the client a clear and transparent comparison of the approved loan and the new one, so that the consumer can more easily assess the costs and benefits of fixing the interest rate,” – are not mandatory, but there are mechanisms for sanctioning the management of those banks that do not provide data.

– We hope that the informative list and application will contribute to a decrease in interest rates as well as a reduction in the amounts of banking fees. According to all supply and demand circumstances, the removal of asymmetric data contributes to corrections and price reductions, concludes Governor Vujčić.