The topic of the new article was suggested by life itself. I recently talked with a friend. She took out "a loan on super-special conditions provided for her by a major bank, because she is almost a "VIP client".
The loan amount is 100 thousand rubles, the term is 2 years. The bonus is a fairly simple registration procedure, since the loan was pre-approved. The rate is the most profitable — 12.99% per annum. There was only one small thing written in small print – an account maintenance fee of 0.99% of the loan amount. Monthly. So what? It's not enough. The total loan payment is 5,800 rubles/month. It would seem – small numbers. To live and rejoice. But it's still interesting - what is the real annual interest rate on the loan?
The form in the application will help us answer this question.
This is certainly not 100 500% like a well-known postal operator. But still. The usual rates on consumer loans are around 18-24% per annum. Such are the special offers for VIP clients. What is surprising is that the total amount of interest payments is 14 thousand rubles, and the commission is 23.7 thousand rubles! A friend was lucky – she closed the loan in 3 months. And I did not have time to fully use the bank's "service" in the matter of account maintenance.
But what should we do to avoid being in the same situation?
1) We don't listen to them when they talk about the annual interest rate;
2) We check with the bank the monthly loan payment;
3) We specify the term of the loan;
4) We check with the bank whether there are any fees for:
— Cash withdrawal;
— Cash deposit;
— Account Maintenance;
— Other commissions (for execution of a pledge agreement, surety, etc.);
At the same time, we remember that the bank is obliged to provide information about these commissions to the client. Hidden fees, as well as fees for issuing a loan, are illegal.
5) Divide the commission by:
— Monthly – which will increase our monthly payment;
— One–time - which, in fact, will increase the total amount of overpayment;
6) We drive the necessary data into the form and voila! We get the result. Our current annual interest rate. If it is very different from the stated one, shame the bank and promise to write about it on social networks.
I hope this little article will help you avoid unpleasant surprises in the future. Or it will reveal an amazing reality.
Have a nice day! In the next article we will talk about cars.
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