It is no secret to anyone that this 2023 paints with some difficulties, because without a doubt the slowdown of the economy will hit employment, while high inflation and the high cost of credit will do the same in the pocket of Colombians, many of them which have financial obligations, which may be affected at some point in the year.
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For this reason, what has been recommended from the Financial Supervision is that, when you begin to notice these symptoms of difficulties in your finances, do not hesitate to go to your bank to see how you can alleviate your debts, while the downpour passes.
In fact, the entity has just launched one for debtors so that they avoid at all costs going to intermediaries when renegotiate the terms of their debts with the banksespecially mortgages, since this is a right that all debtors have, while banks have the obligation to meet these requirements at no cost.
Jorge Castaño Gutiérrez, Financial Superintendent, say that entities that call themselves experts in ‘financial intelligence’ have become fashionable in the country, offer their advisory services to debtors to process those requests for renegotiation with banks, offering people two or three alternatives, a service that, from then, it has an additional cost for the debtor.
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These companies promise the debtor to lower the credit time and reduce the monthly payment, painting scenarios in which they could save millions of pesos, without realizing that, in the same way, the fee they are charged for the supposed advice is also high.
The rates for these consultancies can range from 2 million pesos onwards; a lot depends on how much savings these companies manage to get to the client by reducing the time of the credit or their monthly payment.
That is why the official said that the debt renegotiation It is part of the regulations given to the market, only people are unaware of it and these companies profit from this, but they insist that any debtor can approach their bank and prepay their debts, choose whether to pay capital, shorten the term or lower the value of the installment, without the bank being able to charge additional fees, is free of charge.
(In other news: Bancos de Occidente and Bogotá, from Grupo Aval, join in lowering interest rates)
Tips to keep in mind
Given these circumstances, the Financial Superintendency is recommending to debtors who may have some difficulty in meeting their obligations to contact their financial institution directly and discuss their situation in order to reach an agreement that allows them to alleviate their situation. Here are some recommendations:
1. Avoid at all costs using (third party) intermediaries for any procedure with your bank. Today firms that call themselves experts in ‘Financial intelligence’ They offer services at a high cost that are free and easy to manage by you directly with your bank.
2. If an entity offers you buy the credit portfolio that you have in another bank, make sure that they will offer you a lower rate than the current one, it is the main condition for you to change.
3. Do not allow the entity that buys your portfolio to offer you, on the other hand, another debt, a new credit card or any other financing product, because what is sought is to alleviate your cash flow and not hang up with his debts.
4. If you sell your card wallet to another entity, demand that payment be made directly to the debt you just negotiated and cancel this product immediately, because often this is not done and surely this is a factor of great risk of over-indebtedness and future delay in meeting obligations.
5. If you have the possibility of prepaying some debts, first cancel the recently acquired ones, They are surely the ones with the highest interest rates. Those from two years ago, take care of them, don’t fall behind in your payments.
6. Don’t make advances with your credit card. Remember that for these operations the entities apply the highest interest, very close to the usury ratewhich for March is higher than 46 percent effective per year.
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