New applications from debtors reached 7,360 which were submitted to the platform of the new extrajudicial mechanism in the month of February.

The number of new applications is more than double the number of applications in previous months – the average in 2023 was 3,400 new applications per month – and is a record and historical high, as stated in a statement from the Ministry of National Economy and Finance.

The more than doubling of applications is directly related to the integration, from February, into the platform of the out-of-court mechanism of the changes-improvements instituted by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance:

– the additional “haircut” of up to 28% of the debt in collateralized loans,

– the obligation for Banks, services and the State to accept the proposal of the out-of-court mechanism for vulnerable debtors,

– the reduction of the interest rate for all debt settlements to 3% for 3 years,

– the possibility to join the extrajudicial mechanism for persons who “inherited” debts, from debts they have.

Similarly, there was a historic high in new arrangements, since, according to the data of the General Secretariat of the Financial Sector and Private Debt Management, in the month of February 2024 there were 1,222 new successful debt arrangements. So in total to date, through out-of-court settlement, 14,322 successful debt arrangements have been carried out, which correspond to 5.17 billion euros of initial debts.

At the same time, the bilateral arrangements concluded directly with the debtors by the servicers reached high levels, as for the month of January 2024 they made direct bilateral arrangements for 7,251 debtors, with debts amounting to 238 million euros.

It is recalled that based on the new relevant legislation, by the end of March, servicers are required to put into operation the special digital platform for informing borrowers to provide personalized information.