Old Debts Block Bank Accounts to Citizens

Femiu's son, Habib Mamutovski, tells Radio Free Europe that the basic debt has been 4 thousand denars, (65 euros), but with the estimate of incomes and bail taxes, this debt has reached 18 thousand denars (300 euros), which is 4.5 times higher than the basic debt.

“did not know (father) that the bank account was blocked. We complained to the ombudsman because Father unannounced his account... My father's 70 years old, he needs medication because he's older and he feels that he's been a burden to me even though we're used to a little while it's hard because prices have increased”, Habib Mamutovski says.

This family has turned to the ombudsman.

In this segment, the latest ombudsman report presented during this week (March 29th) for 2021 notes that most complaints involve the field of jurisdiction.

According to the report, out of 436 complaints, nearly one-third has to do with the job of landlords because of old debts. The value of these debts after 10 and more years has increased severalfold because punitive incomes sometimes exceeded the main debt.

The ombudsman has stressed that systemic changes are necessary in the number of interest estimates, since, according to him, the interest cannot be collected, which would be greater than the key debt.

The ombudsman, Naser Ziberi, has said he will seek change of the Law for Obligations in response to deputies' interest in citizens.

A very large number of complaints are due to very high debt bills as a result of interest. In this regard, I think it's illegal for the interest to be three times higher than the basic debt the debtor owes to the lender. In this regard, I think it should urgently intervene. The ombudsman will establish the initiative to change the Law on Obligation Relations (Details) and limit the level of interest that the debtor has to credit” has said.

The ombudsman's office for Radio Free Europe announces that on Wednesday, April 6th, a group of experts will start working to review all shortcomings of the Law for Obligation Relations, and these suggestions will address the Ministry of Justice, which is obliged to draft the proposal for change and implementation of the law in line with recommendations issued by the Ombudsman.

Also, according to the ombudsman, changes must be undergoing and the Law on Banks and the Law on Masters, so that citizens can be protected from several times higher payments on old debts.

Meanwhile, from Parliament say that once they receive proposals for amending the Law on Obligations, they will put the Law in order for the day for review, leaving the possibility to be included and MPs' remarks.

Otherwise, the Law on Obligations Relations was adopted in 2001, and the same has been met and undergone changes several times to harmonise it with European legislation.

Recently, the Law on Obligation Relations undergone changes in September last year. The changes enabled the interest to be not higher than the main debt.

But organisations that focus on citizens' rights require the law to be implemented retroactively. This means that the same applies to old debts, stressing that the law, even with recent changes and fulfillments, remains unclear in a judicial way because the demand of the civil sector and experts has not been accepted to determine the terms of debt age.

According to civil society, obligations for contracted and punitive interest remain unclear.