A sign of the competitiveness on Bulgaria’s banking market is the increasingly wide range of products on offer, with some banks coming up with new ideas to snare specific niches such as pensioners and military personnel.
Many current special offers relate to encouraging customers to sign credit deals. Some offers are based on co-operation with retail chain stores.
In recent days, Bulgaria’s Postbank announced that up to April 30, EuroLine and Visa cardholders using their cards at the Technopolis and Technomarket electronic goods chains would get 50 per cent discounts on interest payments, provided that a monthly instalment of a transaction is at least 12.50 leva.
On March 19, DSK Bank started a debit card lottery for pensioners. Every week, a computer will select a debit card number and the cardholder will win 100 leva. At the end of each month, the computer will select a cardholder to win 1000 leva.
Two days later, First Investment Bank launched a pink-coloured Diners Club card for women customers. The bank said that the cards could be used for purchases at 2300 outlets throughout Bulgaria, of which 250 were offering five per cent discounts on transactions for which the card was used. Through the card, women could get 5000 leva breast cancer insurance, the bank said. The concept of a card especially for women is not an innovation, with Allianz Bank having launched on March 8, International Women’s Day, a credit card scheme for women customers.
On March 20, Piraeus Bank launched easy-term mortgage loans for Bulgarian military personnel after having agreed on a framework for the scheme with the Government. The loans have no set limit and have repayment terms of up to 35 years. Military personnel are also being offered lower interest rates on the bank’s consumer loans and overdrafts.
A week after launching their first joint product, Postbank and DZI Bank followed up on March 20 by announcing another joint product, Fast Credit, a consumer lending scheme. Fast Credit will be offered in two versions in more than 280 branches of the two banks throughout the country. In the first six months, clients using the scheme will pay only interest and no principal.
On March 14, UniCredit-owned Bulbank announced that it was offering an express currency service in co-operation with international money transfer company MoneyGram. The service, also available at the two other UniCredit-owned banks in Bulgaria, HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros bank, can be used in more than 100 countries. The maximum amount that may be sent in one transaction is 8200 euro. Bulbank said that an account with the bank was not required in order to use MoneyGram. Senders and receivers need only an identity card to transfer money.
Grimmer news about the credit card came on March 17, when Bulgarian-language mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa reported that, based on a survey by the newspaper, the Consumer Loans Act was being breached on a mass scale. The act, which came into force in October last year, was geared to protect bank clients in various areas, including against penalties for early repayments of debts. The newspaper reported that the most frequent breach of the act unrealistically high interest payable on arrears and on early repayments of debts. According to the act, fees for early repayments may not exceed the three-month annual percentage of expenditures.
