To obtain credit, customers had to pay for unjustified services. Huge penalty for the lending company

According to the antitrust office, Aasa Polska customers had to purchase expensive additional services in order to conclude a loan agreement. "These included medical subscriptions, online language courses, legal or technical IT support packages, which cost from several hundred to several thousand zlotys. This was a condition for granting a loan or granting it on specific terms," ​​the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection said.

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed a total fine on Aasa Polska in the amount of PLN 3,871,000. zloty. The decision is not final and may be appealed to the court. The fine will be payable to the Financial Education Fund, managed by the Minister of Finance and Economy.

In its announcement, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection cited consumer complaints.

Good morning. I would like to know what it is like with medical packages. Some time ago I took out a loan from Aasa. The decision was positive only if taken together with the package, wrote the client quoted by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

The company added to the loan (...) a fee for a "voluntary package of medical services" in the amount of PLN 2,400, which was credited and automatically included in the loan costs, even though it does not concern financing - reports the consumer in the Office's announcement.

According to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, consumers paid for services they did not need and often did not use at all, just to obtain a loan. Aasa Polska was to automatically add the cost of additional services to the loan amount, which "drastically increased the total cost of the loan." One of the consumers complained that without his consent, Aasa Polska added a package price of PLN 2.7 thousand to the loan amount. zloty.

"Circumvention of anti-usury regulations"

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection found that the company exceeded the statutory limits on non-interest costs and evaded the provisions of the Consumer Credit Act.

"The practice used by Aasa Polska was a circumvention of anti-usury regulations. By attaching seemingly voluntary medical packages or language courses to the loans, the company drastically inflated the costs of these loans. It is unacceptable to use mechanisms that force consumers to buy unnecessary, grossly expensive services just to be able to obtain a loan," emphasized Tomasz Chróstny, president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, quoted in the release.

The antitrust office also raises concerns about the way services are promoted on the company's website. Its purpose was - according to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection - to promote package offers as more attractive. "The standard offer provided for a lower loan amount and a higher installment than offers including packages of additional services, which suggested that the second of these variants is - contrary to reality - more advantageous," the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection pointed out.

Additionally, when presenting the total loan amount, the company also included the credited loan costs in the form of fees for additional services. According to the Office, this misled consumers as to the proportion between the total cost of the loan and the total loan amount.