TIRANA, February 28 /ATA/ The central Bank of Albania is due to set a ceiling interest rate on consumer credit to individuals that is expected to bring more reasonable interest rates and protect the interests of borrowers.
The amended Regulation “On consumer credit and mortgage credit” defines the new concept of maximum effective interest rate (NEI maximum) based on the simple average of the effective interest rate on consumer credit and adding to this average one third of it.
For example, if the average interest rate on a consumer credit product during a given quarter was 2%, the maximum NEI set by the Bank of Albania will be 16%, adding 1/3 of the average.
The Bank of Albania will set a maximum special interest rate for each of the categories of consumer credit, including periodic installment loans, overdrafts, credit cards and financial leasing.
These rates will be published on its official website and will be effective for the following quarter.
The maximum NEI will also be divided according to several intervals of the amount of consumer credit, specifically for amounts up to 200,000 Lekë, for those from 200,001 to 2,000,000 Lekë and 2,000,001 to 10,000,000 Lekë./p.s./
