Facilities for loans

To individuals (including sole traders, sole partnerships, and family partnerships), to liberal professions and to those exercised on the basis of special laws, and to legal entities that are part of credit or leasing agreements (except for credit institutions).

The period over which the payment of loan installments can be suspended varies between one and nine months, without exceeding December 31, 2020.

According to application norms, the suspension is granted for those credits that fulfill all of the following conditions:
— they were granted before the date of entry into force of the ordinance;
— their maturity date succeeds the date of entry into force of the ordinance;
— their anticipated maturity has not been declared by or on March 30, 2020;
— no outstanding installments have been recorded by or on March 16, 2020, or, otherwise, the debtors have paid them before the suspension was requested.

According to the ordinance, the changes in the loan agreements are made by operation of law, without addendums; within 30 days of receiving the request, the creditor will notify the debtor about the contractual clauses amended in order to implement the provisions of the ordinance.

The legal entities that can request the deferral of loan installments are those seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They must declare on their own liability that their incomes have been directly or indirectly affected, compared to the level registered prior to the state of emergency, and that they are unable to meet the loan payment obligations.

Also, the legal entities who wish to apply the provisions of the ordinance must hold the state of emergency certificate issued by the Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Business Environment, and not be insolvent at the time they request the suspension of credit installments.

According to the application norms, the requests for payment deferrals must be submitted to creditors in no more than 45 days after the entry into force of the ordinance. The request to postpone payments can be transmitted in writing either by post or by electronic mail. If the debtor cannot send it in writing, the request can also be made by telephone.

In the case of individuals, debt will be created distinctly and independently from the other obligations arising from the loan agreement for the interest due on the deferral of the rates; this debt will be reimbursed to the creditor with 0% interest, in 60 equal monthly installments starting with the next month following the end of the postponement period.

Note!

Both the ordinance and its implementation norms contain ambiguities and possible material errors — the correct application of the new provisions depends on their clarification.