Insider / ΚΥΠΕ
Amendment for the removal of the potential right of access from credit management companies to the ARTEMIS database, as well as to the database of the Department of Lands and Surveys for cases of guarantors in managed loans, collateral providers in such loans and affiliates , the Parliamentary Committee on Finance discussed on Monday after the postponement in the Plenary Session of the Parliament on December 9 of the discussion on the government bills for the purchase and sale of loans.
In addition, the amendment, according to the relevant document, “ensures non-abuse of legislation to the detriment of guarantors, collateral providers and persons associated with borrowers, to encourage the provision of sustainable restructuring solutions”.
The amendment was tabled by Stavros Papadouris, Member of Parliament for the Ecology Movement, Alekos Tryfonidis, Member of Parliament for the Democratic Party, and Sotiris Ioannou, Member of Parliament for ELAM.
The representative of YPOIK stated that the main goal of the package of YPOIK bills was to put a proper framework in the licensing and supervision of credit facility management companies by the Central Bank as is done with credit redemption companies, but also in the protection of borrowers and at the same time there is transparency in this area and “strategic defaults should not be protected”.
He also said that the goal of the package of bills of YPOIK is to improve the framework of loan management and when loans are sold so that terms, rights, obligations and conditions did not change before the owner of the loans changed.
He also stated that the amendment which does not allow access to loan management companies in the ARTEMIS and Cadastral database in the view of the Ministry of Finance “does not seem to achieve the purpose as it is reflected, on the contrary it works by making credit management companies in a more difficult position from the current situation and calls into question the possibility of licensing and operation of these companies “.
He also said that the loan manager can no longer conclude or draw up restructuring agreements, credit facility settlement arrangements or debts arising from the loan agreement, from the borrower's guarantors or collateral providers but only from the borrower himself. “Nor can it include in its actions cases of debt exchange with real estate”.
He also said that “the principle of equality of the Constitution is being violated”, as loan management companies have limited access rights in relation to credit institutions and also violates the right of business “since the operation of these companies is limited”.
Regarding the possibility of creating a problem in KEDIPES with the amendment, the representative of YPOIK said that the company has acquired the loans of the former Cooperation which can not be managed by itself based on its commitments but through a loan manager, unlike other companies. .
“Any weakening and inefficient management of KEDIPES's loan portfolio” also weakens the company's ability to repay the state aid received by the former Cooperative, he underlined.
The Financial Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou, who submitted a relevant memorandum, suggested the passage of the bills “in the sense that the amendment under consideration will be adopted with regard to the persons related to the borrowers and the guarantors or collateral providers in general, if this is not legal. as he notes, “to be limited only to guarantors and / or providers of loans secured by the former Co-operation or the Housing Financing Organization”.
He stated that “the possibility of interfering with information about persons associated with borrowers is an unprecedented institution of abuse of rights of citizens who happened to be connected with borrowers” and added that “the adoption of the amendment in question ensures the exclusion of abuse and therefore related contingencies to the detriment of the citizens of the Republic “.
He also referred to abusive clauses in FTT loan agreements and added that “we have issued 17 decisions on this issue and the Housing Financing Agency for its own reasons accepted three of them, while the rest where the same reasons as led the Commissioner to to take a decision against the organization did not adopt them “.
This is a blatant violation of the principle of equality of the Constitution, he added.
“It is blatantly undermining the principle of democracy to interfere in the assets of a related person with a borrower,” he added.
The Commissioner gave the example if someone marries a lady today after making a series of loans why “that woman and her family should be held accountable” for these loans.
He also stated that it is a blatant violation of personal data
“From where and to where because I married someone who had loans, the managers of these loans should enter my personal data, in terms of my father's property…”, he wondered.
The CBC representative also said that “management limited to part of the loan agreement is substantially invalid” and added that “in fact the guarantor and the collateral provider are part of the contract governed by law and are not free the definition and translation of what a related person means “.
He added that “both the guarantor and the collateral provider voluntarily signed before witnesses governed by law” and “is an integral part of the contract between the borrower and the bank and is not something that he judges”.
In her speech, the representative of the Bank Borrowers Protection Association (SYPRODAT) Jenny Papacharalambous said that she agrees with the amendment and in the words of the Financial Commissioner and added “no more weapons should be given to the loan management companies”. of the Governor of the Central Committee do not cooperate in making sustainable restructurings “.
In statements after the meeting of the Committee, DISY MP Savia Orfanidou said that the purpose of the bill is such that the rights and obligations of a borrower with a bank loan remain the same if the loan is transferred to a credit facility or management company. credit facilities.
He stated that “the borrower should be neither in a more favorable nor in a more unfavorable position with this transfer”, while he added that “in case the bill is amended with the proposed amendments, we consider that equal treatment between banks and companies is violated and a a series of very serious problems in the management of bad loans throughout the banking system “.
In addition, Ms. Orfanidou expressed concern in case the amendments are adopted “for the negative effects that will have on the ongoing process at European level to expand the role of KEDIPES for the management of bad loans by the entire banking system to support really vulnerable borrowers through the “rent instead of installment” plan “.
“The non-voting of the relevant bills but also the approval of the proposed amendments endangers this effort of the Government and the vulnerable ones that we want to protect”, he added.
AKEL MP Andreas Kafkalias said that at a time when borrowers are waiting for the Government and the Central Bank to submit proposals for dispute resolution mechanisms between consumers and banks for over-indebtedness of loan agreements, at a time when legal loopholes and arrangements to the detriment of borrowers remain and are perpetuated, at a time when the CB's restructuring directives are proving to be ineffective, while plans for vulnerable groups to protect their first home have not progressed “The government is trying with the mentioned bills to further crush the borrowers and to further strengthen the position of the banks and their satellites”.
“These bills can not be supported and AKEL will vote against them,” he said, adding that AKEL will vote in favor of the amendment submitted and “concerns the removal of the right of access to the ARTEMIS database and the Department's database. Land Registry for cases of guarantors in loans under management, providers of such loans and persons related to the borrowers “.
Democratic Party MP Alekos Tryfonidis said that “we are strongly opposed to the unacceptable proposal in this bill for loan management companies to be able to enter the details of the guarantors in the Land Registry and these related persons” and added that “this proposal will is the beginning of a social unrest where almost the entire Cypriot people will be under the banks and the loan management companies “.
“We will continue to support the amendment and we will not let loan management companies and banks deal this unacceptable blow to the Cypriot people who knew the legal framework when they bought the loans and therefore bought them at much lower prices,” he added.
He also said that the banks, through the difficult conditions that Cyprus is facing, “additionally come with the relevant charges and the increase of the charges to the businesses and to the citizens”.
Finally, the MP of the Movement of Ecologists Stavros Papadouris said that “a great danger was heard from YPOIK and KTK which we can not understand” and added that “if the legislation goes without the amendment, people will wait for many dark days, and borrowers and related parties “.
He added that “our ultimate goal, as well as that of other parties, is to support this amendment in order to avoid the worst” and added that the Ministry of Finance “has seen the financial indicators, has seen the promises they have given to loan management companies but not they have thought about the effects they will have on society. “
He also stated that YPOIK and KTK considered that everything worked well in Cyprus and added that the Office of the Commissioner on the issues of guarantors and abusive clauses has issued many decisions.
