“Abusive practices” would be sanctioned with tax credit insurance | sbs | YOUR MONEY

2024-10-16 10:13:00

Therefore, following international practice, the regulator proposes that financial institutions must have in the portfolio of each of their credit products – with the exception of mortgage loans – at least one that does not require the stipulation of life insurance credit.

Failure to comply will be considered an abusive practice financial systembehavior that would imply a sanction from SBS, analysts say.

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Even if the “heart” of the proposal is to include in the offer products without protection against the death of the borrower, a series of prohibited behaviors are also imposed on companies in the financial system linked to the stipulation of this insurance, Eduardo Morón, president, explained to Gestión from the Peruvian Association of Insurance Companies (APESEG).

Making people pay for signing a life insurance policy on a loan or forcing the user to include the cash payment of the annual premium, claiming that it is burdensome for the bank to follow up on it, correspond to infractions that will fall on the financial institution, he stressed out .

TO María del Carmen Yuta, Vodanovic’s partner, limiting loans to a policy will be an infringement and will be part of the regulation of sanctions of SBS.

“It is not necessary for there to be a clause in the contract, it is sufficient that in promotional calls or conversations the assumption of credit is conditional on the acquisition of credit insurance for it to be an abusive practice,” he explained.

The consultation was carried out at Association of Banks of Peru (Asbanc) on the published project, to which he responded thus “The union expresses its total willingness to respect the provisions and mandates of the SBS”.

The SBS also recognizes the approval of a as a conditional bad practice life insurance to replace credit life insurance, to pay life insurance premiums in advance, to impose the company granting the credit as the sole beneficiary, as well as to delay attention to endorsement requests.

Impact

According to Morón, it is difficult to establish whether this proposal will be advantageous for the debtor, since the reduction in insurance proceeds can be replaced by a higher interest rate.

“It’s not like if they used to ask for 8% more (insurance) deduction“Now they will only ask for 8%, the institution can decide to charge 10%, because it still has the problem of a possible death of the customer and non-payment of the debt,” he warned.

Vodanovic argues instead that, even if it seeks to benefit the user, there is a negative impact on the autonomy that regulation grants financial institutions in managing credit risk, which could influence their propensity to finance certain segments .

Mortgages

Freedom of choice of mortgage policy

on credit mutualSince this is a long-term operation and high debts, a higher level of protection is needed to release the debtor’s heirs from liability for the mortgage debt, which is achieved with credit reduction insurance, he argues SBS.

However, he specifies, the user is not obliged to take out the insurance offered by the financial institution that grants it to him creditbut you can replace it with the one you had contracted with another company.

Furthermore, the insurance taken out will not generate any commission or additional expense to be paid by the user, as long as it is a life insurance policy that replaces the protection offered by the bench or financial. “The guarantee must be in favor of the creditor institution only up to the amount of the balance due,” he emphasizes. Demanding the bank as the sole beneficiary will be an abusive practice.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Economist from the University of Piura. He currently works as a financial editor at Diario Gestión.

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