Electricity bill settled by the end of the year will be a requirement for taking out a loan since the Central Bank is planning to add to their Credit Register debts the citizens have to the Electric power Company. Representatives of the Center for Consumers’ Protection think that this shouldn’t be a pre-requisite for taking out a loan due to many court disputes and statute of limitations. They also believe that the CB should protect the personal data of every individual.
Do you have your electricity bill settled? This will be another question the banker will ask you in case you decide to apply for a loan.
What kind of data will be exchanged, in what way and within what deadlines, all this will be defined by an agreement.
This way, the CB wants to reduce the number of problematic loans and, furthermore, to enable the banks, micro-financial institutions and Investment and Development Fund to get insight into the purchasing power of potential clients. However, these data can be accessed only with the clients’ approval. Representatives of the Consumers’ Protection Agency think that the consent provided by the citizens should also be regulated by law.
“I’d say that this is forced, some kind of extorted consent, it’s not voluntary”, says Radenko Lacmanović from the Agency for Personal Data Protection.
In addition, electricity debts could be a problem.
“The reason is that many claims of the Electric Power Company are the subject of court proceedings. Also, the majority of debts refers to statute of limitations”, says Jasna Božović from the Center for Consumers’ Protection.
