Number of bad-payers increases in Romania as repayments of over 670,000 Romanians to banks, NBFIs in arrears

The number of bad-payers in Romania is on the increase, as the repayments of over 670,000 Romanians to banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) are in arrears, with the number increasing from one month to the next. 

According to a special analysis released to AGERPRES on Monday, over 100,000 debtors were monitored on the Internet in November, and the repayments to banks and NBFIs of more than 670,000 Romanians were found in arrears, increasing on a monthly basis. 

Amidst a strong appreciation of the euro and rising consumer spending, increasingly more Romanians are unable to repay their loans installments on schedule, and thus go into forced execution, according to a KeysFin analysis based on statistics provided by the eKollect debt management web platform, a software application developed in Romania, the first version of which was launched by Starbyte 14 years ago. 

According to Starbyte experts, the worsening situation in the lending sector is also reflected in the debt tracking procedures. On the eKollect platform, a web-based application that allows control, tracking, and automation of the debt collection process used by many Romanian financial institutions, the number of investigated cases in November exceeded 100,000, up by 20,000 from H1 2017. 

"The fully secure platform manages the real situation of indebted individuals and companies and allows creditors, banks, NBFIs, debt collection companies, and law firm dealing with soft and legal collection to manage their collection actions on the best level. eKollect allows the tracking of enforcement, insolvency, bankruptcy and liquidation files," according to the Starbyte experts. 

Latest data with the National Bank of Romania (BNR) show the total amount of outstanding loans in lei of the population and companies was standing at 5.77 billion lei in August 2017, up 0.51 percent from July 2017, while outstanding foreign currency loans increased by 7.4 percent, to 7.08 billion lei. Most of them, or 4.32 billion lei, were more than 90 days overdue. 

The eKollect platform automates and streamlines the collection, monitoring and reporting for banks, leasing companies, call centres and collection companies. eKollect allows monitoring and reporting by tracking all actions, contacts, and agreements between parties. eKollect allows simplified negotiations so that collection companies can make progress and debtors do not feel bombarded with messages and calls. 

"The application generates negotiating letters and telephone campaigns with debtors, with eKollect integrating almost all communication channels: mail printing server, e-mail as an alternative way to deliver notifications, facsimiles, SMS, inbound and outbound telephony (CTI). The application also contains a reporting module for the management to access operational statistics (operator's activity), collection efficiency report and advanced business intelligence reports," the experts say. 

Organisations like BCR Leasing IFN SA, Coface, Allianz Tiriac Asigurari, Credius, ERB Retail Services IFN, Storevision Group AB, EOS Matrix, BDO Audit, Infocredit Group LTD, CreditReform, Marfin Bank, BEJ Aequitas, Bank Moldova have been tracking the situation of debt collection from bad payers. 

eKollect also allows bid and asset management, valuation history and valuation data. The application integrates data about all the participants in the file (creditors and other claimants, enforcers, debtors, guarantors, receivers), allowing automatic calculation of outstanding days, enforcers' fees, commissions, penalties, in such a way that the relationship between the two parties, creditors and debtors, takes place at an optimal level, without miscommunication or misinterpretation.