Central Bank regulates interest in arreas

BCE

The directory of the Ecuadorian Central Ecuador (BCE, for its acronym in spanish) issued the regulation 047-2013 which will regulate the  rates of interest in arreas of credits in the financial system of the country, which shall enter into force on 3 December.

This regulation is based on a system of scale of percentages that ranges from 3% to 10%, and must be paid over the amount due from capital, and only from the date of non-payment until the day of fulfilment of the obligations.

According to the BCE, what is sought is to encourage the payment of appropriations, because the faster the customer cancels the smaller the delinquency rate will be.

Previous regulations established an interest in arreas of up to 10%, depending on the behavior of customers, but currently a credit that has not been cancelled during 16 days will have a delinquency rate of 3%  in the first 8 days,  5% in the next seven days and 7% on day 16.

The BCE said that with the new measure, banks must make some minor operating changes in their computer systems.

On the subject, the former Minister of finance, Mauricio Pozo, said that the non-payment of the debts has nothing to do with whether or not rates are gradual. The main factor is the capacity of payment of the customer, therefore banks must be more rigorous when it comes to granting a credit.