July 2024

Decision of the General Directorate of Market and Consumer Protection to impose a financial penalty of €160,000 against Servicer

Based on decision no. 55766/12.07.2024 of the General Directorate of Market and Consumer Protection, under the Ministry of Development, our complaint against a debt and credit management company was upheld. The company was imposed an administrative fine totaling €160,000 for the abusive practices it applied against our client and four other consumers.

Specifically, the management company refused to provide our client with the account statements for the servicing of the credits he had received, thus depriving him of any possibility to verify the relevant debits and credits. When the company was informed of our complaint and was asked to present its views on it, it sent incomplete statements to our client, informing the General Directorate that it had supposedly satisfied his request.

In light of the above, it was determined that there was a violation of Article 9c of Law 2251/1994 on consumer protection (Prohibition of Unfair Commercial Practices), for which a financial penalty of €80,000 was imposed, and Article 9g of the same law (Aggressive Commercial Practices), for which an additional financial penalty of €80,000 was imposed. It is worth clarifying that the practices of the management company were judged not only as unfair, meaning contrary to the requirements of professional conscientiousness, but also as aggressive, meaning it was considered that there was an abuse of a position of power in this case.