Entities could no longer make constant calls or force the contracting of insurance, according to the Law of the Rights of Clients that was approved in Assembly

The constant commercial calls, deadlines for the financial institution to answer the clients and return of charges is what the draft Organic Law contemplates to defend the rights of clients of the national financial system and avoid undue charges and unsolicited services, approved the last Tuesday by the plenary session of the National Assembly. The Executive still needs to pronounce on the text, either sanctioning it (publishing it) or vetoing it.

The regulations include two chapters: the first makes reforms to the Monetary and Financial Code and the second incorporates changes to the Consumer Defense Law and modifications to the Telecommunications Law.

In article 158 of the Financial Code, 158.1 of the right to claim is added. Here the client of the financial system will be able to direct their claims and the entity must provide the user with all the facilities for it to be carried out.

They will be obliged to respond within a maximum period of fifteen days when the claims are within the country, and forty days in international transactions.

“In the cases of claims in which there is no prior authorization from the client for the charges, as well as in the cases that have not been answered, the financial institution must return, without further processing, the entire amount disputed, plus interest calculated from the date the charges occurred ”, says the article. In addition, these returns must be made in a maximum of three days.

If the entity does not comply, the corresponding superintendency may be requested to return this refund in ten days.

The Assembly approved a law to avoid undue charges from the financial system and that regulates telephone services

The regulations also detail when the charges are suspended. And in the same article 158, 158.5 is added.

Charges will be suspended in the following cases:

1. When it is determined that it does not correspond to a service actually provided.
2. When the information and conditions on the charge or collection have not been previously disclosed and agreed.
3. When the product or service has not been previously and unequivocally accepted.
4. When financial entities do not have the endorsements that justify the charge or collection of the service. In this case, the financial institution must submit to the control body, within twenty days, a detailed report on the process of verifying the authorizations of all its users and / or clients for the provision of the service.

Mandatory insurance is another issue within the Law. And article 250 is replaced. It indicates that the entities of the financial system must inform the user of their right to take out compulsory insurance at any insurance company legally incorporated in the country.

And this will be able to present to its users some alternative providers. They may not demand or charge their clients for credit life insurance any other type of complementary insurance.

Now, if the citizen contracts a policy on their own, it can also be done, but the coverage conditions must be equal to or greater than the alternatives offered. And for this reason the entity cannot make charges.

The regulations also reform the Consumer Defense Law. In article 49 it mentions that Those who carry out the collection management by telephone, by messages or email will not be able to do so more than once a day.

Interest rates will have a slight drop from January 2022

Nor at a time before 07:00 or after 20:00, neither on weekends or holidays, nor from an unidentifiable phone number.

“Insistent harassment, intimidation or bullying is prohibited and repetitive against a consumer, on the occasion of the collection of a debt “, says the article.

In the 55 of prohibited practices changes are also made and a ninth numeral is added.

Telephone calls, visits to the consumer’s home or any other means of communication may not be made “in a persistent manner, ignoring the consumer’s request to stop this type of activity.”

In addition, all phone call must come from an identifiable number.

Meanwhile, in the Telecommunications Law several reforms are made in the numerals of article 22 on the rights of subscribers, customers and users.

Here it indicates that the service providers will be obliged to accumulate the balances of the telephone and data plans (postpaid) that have not been used.

This surplus will be available to the customer in the next billing period. (I)