Until the tenth month of the year, according to the Superintendency of Banks, 71 million collection efforts were made nationwide.
Text messages and calls were, until October, the methods most used by banks in the country to request payment of overdue fees.
These two mechanisms concentrated 83% of the total collection processes recorded in the first ten months of the year, according to data from the Superintendency of Banks.
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
In that period, on a national scale, 71 million procedures were carried out. Of that amount, 59 million corresponded to text messages and calls. These processes are followed by the sending of emails and face-to-face visits. Collection process data recorded up to October are 12% more than that reported in the same period of 2020, but 30% less if 2019 is taken into account.
Ximena Valarezo has received, for two weeks, at least five text messages, two emails and daily calls to remind him of the three overdue installments of a $ 12,000 credit that he maintains with a banking entity.
The 37-year-old woman says that there are two messages that are repeated daily. The first is one that details the amount owed, the number of installments and the date on which the obligation was due. Instead, the other message you receive redirects you to the bank’s website to read the refinancing options.
Valarezo says that he lost his job in September and since that month he has not been able to pay his monthly payments on time. So far he has accumulated a debt of $ 345 for three fallen months.
Diego Ordoñez lives a similar situation, but with an extra collection management. On the other hand, they usually visit him at work, but They are no longer agents of the bank but of a private company.
“The bank sold my debt and it doubled”, when can an entity sell the debt of its users in Ecuador?
“The visits started a month ago because I have been behind for at least half a year in the payments of two credit cards from the same bank. The last time they told me that they only came to collect, that they were not from the bank ”. Its debt is not high, Ordóñez says, between the two cards it is around $ 2,200.
For the Association of Private Banks of Ecuador (Asobanca)Although the economy continues to recover, in 2021 it is observed that customers improved their ability to pay. In fact, this is also reflected in a decrease in overdue credit operations until October.
Marco Rodriguez, executive vice president of the union, indicated that the objective of collection management is to remind all its clients that they have a pending payment and avoid incurring additional charges or prevent their credit rating from being affected.
“In the event that the client cannot fulfill his obligations, the collection management service seeks to provide solutions to payment problems that are adapted to the conditions of the clients ”, he explained.
Most of the steps
According to the Super. of Banks, between day 1 and day 15 is where more calls, messages and emails are registered to achieve a payment from customers. It is also during this period that the most overdue operations exist.
The amount of overdue debts totaled $ 3,332 million in the first ten months of this year, 11% more than last year, but 11% less compared to 2019, the prepandemic year.
For the economic analyst David castellanos, this behavior is due to the fact that in that period of time there is a greater likelihood that customers will engage to pay or pay your debts in full.
The cost of collection procedures
Each process has a cost and this is in accordance with the expiration days. For example, for a debt less than $ 100 with a delay of up to 60 days it has a value of $ 16.23.
How can I know if I have debts in the Risk Central?
For a debt of up to $ 300, $ 7.92 is paid for the management if it is for a delay of up to 30 days. For higher values of more than $ 1,000 and with a delay of up to 90 days you get to pay $ 34.01. The Resolution 514, issued on May 10, 2019 by the Superintendency of Banks, gives details of these fees.
Maria Jose Troya, Director of the Consumer Tribune, said that although collection procedures can be exercised, these “They must not make the customer look ridiculous, or embarrass or intimidate him.” Troya recommended that bank customers should make responsible consumption and not get into debt. “Agreements should be chosen according to the ability to pay to avoid embarrassing or inconvenient procedures.”
The role of financial education
According to Asobanca, financial education is a useful tool to avoid falling into problems such as over-indebtedness.
The guild gives three advice for customers:
1. Make a budget in which fixed and variable monthly income and expenses are recorded.
2. Begin to save money to face difficult times or unforeseen events. It is advisable to start by allocating at least 10% or 20% of income to savings.
3. Identify the debt capacity. The debt capacity is the maximum amount by which someone can borrow without putting their economic stability at risk; that is, with the total income, the person must be able to cover their expenses and debts. (I)
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