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Client Blames Bank Credo in the Extortion of Money

January 15, 2015
 
Lela Khechoshvili, Kakheti 

Ekaterine Ruadze from Chumlaki village blames Gurjaani office of the Ltd Micro-Finance Organization Credo in the extortion of money. Ekaterine Ruadze claims she had covered the loan taken from the bank before the deadline but the bank made wrong operation and transferred the money to the client’s account instead covering the loan. As a result, the monthly interest was deducted from her account before the sum finished there; afterwards the bank started to fine her. The client learned about the problem only 8 months later.

Loan agreement №20130611ERUAD was signed between Ekaterine Ruadze and loan manager Giorgi Bubunauri at Gurjaani office of the Micro-Finance Organization Credo on June 11, 2013. The total amount of the loan was 3 700 lari and the length of it - 24 months, deadline June 18, 2015. 

Ekaterine Ruadze was paying interest every month according to the schedule. In the beginning of 2014 she decided to fully cover the loan, applied to the bank and asked the credit officer Ioseb Kandiashvili to calculate remaining total debt she had to pay including the initial sum, interest and insurance payment. 

According to Ruadze, she was visiting the office during two weeks but the credit officer did not count the total amount of the debt. So, Ekaterine Ruadze personally calculated the money and on January 18, 2014 she transferred full amount of the debt 3 150.50 lari to the bank. 
She said the money included the initial loan, interest and insurance payment too. In order to check the situation about the loan, she visited the Credo Bank two days later. 

“On January 20, I took the payment receipt to the Credo office, met my credit officer Ioseb Kandiashvili and manager Tornike Megrelishvili, showed them the payment receipt and asked whether I would have any problems about the loan in future. They said everything was fine and they offered me a new loan with better conditions though I refused. In September 2014 I accidentally learned from my loan guarantor that my first loan was not fully covered; the money I had paid in January was allocated on my personal account and the monthly interest of my loan was deducted from there. After the sum finished on my account, the bank started to add fines to me. Now, the Credo demands additional 767.45 lari from me,” Ekaterine Ruadze said.

The information was unexpected for Eka Ruadze because she had two more loans at the Credo. On July 22, 2013 she took loan of 864 lari and installment loan on November 15, 2013 – 799 lari.  She often visited the bank to pay the interest but nobody had ever asked her about the first loan. 

Eka Ruadze sent letter about the issue to the Bank Manager Aleksi Sozashvili.

“I did not receive any written reply to my letter but during private conversation Sozashvili explained that they could not annul the loan because of program procedures but offered a new loan to cover the previous one. I refused because it was unfair offer to me.  I said I had covered the debt; I received not only material but also moral damage with their action,” Ekaterine Ruadze said and added that she had unsuccessfully applied to the Credo’s head office in Tbilisi for help.

“Is not the credit officer obliged to find out with the client why she/he transferred large amount of money to the account while she does not pay the monthly interest of the debt? Even if the credit officer was not informed, he had to check the information with her, particularly when the latter has two more loans in the same bank and pays the debt regularly. It would have been a good management. In my particular case, I not only informed him, but I was visiting him during two weeks and asked him to calculate the debt. I have not yet received a reply from the bank whether the 3 150 lari was enough to cover my debt then. Instead admitting their mistake, the bank tries to rob me,” Ekaterine Ruadze said.

Human Rights Center got interested whether the credit officer was obliged to calculate the remaining debt for Ekaterine Ruadze and addressed to the Gurjaani office of the Ltd Micro-Finance Organization Credo to find out the situation. As the Center was informed, bank manager Aleksi Sozashvili moved to another office and new manager Jarji Potolashvili replaced him on January 1, 2015. The new manager said he had already studied Eka Ruadze’s case and repeated the same that the client had to file a notification about preliminary payment of the debt. 

“We act according to the documents. We could not find relevant document in our office and that’s why the credit officer did not calculate the remaining sum. It was explained in the letter prepared by our lawyers. Even if she had paid extra sum, she had to file a notification about it. I repeat again – it was obligatory, we have our procedures,” the manager of the Gurjaani branch office of Credo Bank Jarji Potolashvili said.

Human Rights Center inquired why the credit manager did not give instructions to the client, when she transferred large sum to her account; the branch manager said he could not answer the question.

The loan agreement provided by Ekaterine Ruadze shows that the client was not obliged to file written notification to the bank about preliminary payment of the loan. It is required only in particular situations that was not observed in Ekaterine Ruadze’s case. 

“It is noteworthy that at the bank I was told - if Ioseb Kandiashvili had worked in their office, they would have fired him for my case. So, they also admit that their employee neglected his professional duties and abused rights of the client,” Ekaterine Ruadze clarified and added that she had been a good client of the financial organization for a long time and this particular situation is very painful and offensive for her.

Ekaterine Ruadze decided to appeal the court. 

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