Decision No. 56/3 of 24 November 2025 regarding the preliminary request by OCN OK CREDIT SRL for partial annulment of CNPF Decision No. 47/4

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA NATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKET COMMISSION 77 Stefan cel Mare si Sfant Blvd., Chisinau, MD 2012, tel: (373 22) 859 401, www.cnpf.md, e-mail: office@cnpf.md

DECISION 24 November 2025 No. 56/3 Regarding the Preliminary Request, submitted by OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL for the partial annulment of CNPF Decision No. 47/4 dated 01.10.2025 Regarding the petition registered with the National Financial Market Commission on No. 1599 on 04.03.2025, in relation to OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL

On 31.10.2025, within the National Financial Market Commission (CNPF/supervisory authority), the Preliminary Request, submitted by OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL (creditor), was registered (No. 7914), requesting: "1. Admission of this preliminary request. 2. Partial annulment of Decision No. 47/4 dated 01 October 2025, specifically point 3, as illegal and contrary to good morals."

In this case, to ensure a comprehensive, objective, and transparent investigation that provides a real opportunity to analyze the creditor's claims, the creditor is notified that the examination of the factual and legal circumstances relevant to the case, in preliminary order, will be conducted by distinguished officials within the CNPF.

1. In fact, on 04.03.2025, an administrative procedure was initiated via the petition of Ms. [...] representing Ms. [...] (registered with CNPF under No. 1599), requesting CNPF intervention regarding the legal relationship between OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL and the debtor, established based on the Loan Agreement No. [...] dated 05.01.2022 (the Agreement).

Following the investigations conducted within the framework of the respective administrative procedure, and the analysis of documents attached by the petitioner and the creditor, the CNPF issued Decision No. 47/4 dated 01.10.2025 regarding the petition registered with the National Financial Market Commission under No. 1599 on 04.03.2025, in relation to OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL (Decision 47/4/2025/The Contested Decision), by which it was established that OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL violated Art. 947 para. (3) of the Civil Code, Art. 3, Art. 5 para. (3) lit. f) and lit. g), Art. 10 para. (3) lit. f) and lit. g), Art. 14 para. (1) and Art. 20 para. (1)-(2) of Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts (Law No. 202/2013); it was established that OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL violated the method of applying the interest rate related to the credit; OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL was ordered to recalculate, within 30 days, the interest according to legal provisions and return the illegally collected sum; it was established that the clauses contained in points 3.2 subpoint 3.2.2, point 3.3 subpoint 3.3.6, point 3.3 subpoint 3.3.7, and point 4.5 of the Agreement are abusive.

2. Disagreeing with the CNPF's findings, the creditor submitted a Preliminary Request, requesting the annulment of the Contested Decision, specifically point 3, regarding the order for OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL to recalculate, within 30 days, the interest according to legal provisions and return the illegally collected sum.

3. By analyzing the arguments presented in the Preliminary Request, in light of the legal provisions applicable to the case, it will be assessed whether they are of a nature to overturn the findings of the supervisory authority, as follows:

4. In law, Art. 19 of the Administrative Code provides that "The Preliminary Request is the institution that offers a pre-litigation path for resolving administrative disputes," and Art. 162 para. (1) and para. (3) of the same law stipulate that "(1) The preliminary procedure aims to verify the legality of individual administrative acts. [...] (3) The Preliminary Request may be directed towards: a) the total or partial annulment of an illegal or null individual administrative act; [...]".

5. Under the conditions of Art. 166 of the Administrative Code, "The Preliminary Request may be submitted only if the person claims rights violated by the issuance or refusal to issue an individual administrative act," and in accordance with Art. 167 para. (1) and para. (3) of the same law, "(1) If it considers the preliminary request to be admissible and well-founded, the issuing public authority annuls the contested individual administrative act in whole or in part or issues the requested individual administrative act. [...] (3) The issuing public authority resolves the preliminary request within 15 calendar days. The provisions of Art. 60 para. (2)-(5) apply correspondingly."

6. Regarding the creditor's allegations that "[...] upon adoption and issuance of the contested decision, the essence of the sums disbursed by the debtor and the sums paid by the debtor for the purpose of extinguishing contractual obligations was absolutely not entered into, thus point 3 of the decision was adopted, in particular, with an illegal prescription that contradicts good morals," we note that these arguments cannot be upheld, because the method of interest calculation used by OCN "OK Credit" SRL contradicts imperative legal norms regarding the determination of interest related to the credit.

7. According to Art. 3 of Law No. 202/2013, "the interest rate related to the credit – an interest rate expressed as a fixed or floating percentage applied annually to the sum drawn from the credit;". Thus, the legislator explicitly establishes that the interest rate must be applied exclusively to the sum actually drawn from the credit and not to the initial sum when it is partially repaid, which constitutes the essence of a credit with installment repayment.

According to point 3.3 subpoint 3.3.1 of the Agreement, "For the use of the Loan, the Borrower undertakes to pay the Lender a daily interest with a fixed rate initially set at 0.19% (Zero whole nineteen hundredths) % daily. The Interest together with the Loan shall be paid according to the Repayment Schedule." At the same time, in accordance with subpoint 3.3.3 of the Agreement "3.3.3 The interest indicated in p. 3.3.1 of this Agreement is calculated daily on the initial sum of the loan, and the total monthly calculation will depend on the number of calendar days of the respective month. The interest calculation begins from the day immediately following the day the lender transferred the money to the borrower's account;".

Correlatively, it is noted that to ensure semantic consistency of the terms used, if the legislator had established the calculation of the interest rate having as a calculation base "the initial sum of the loan," the definition of the interest rate would operate with the term "total value of the credit" 1 . In accordance with Art. 14 para. (1) of Law No. 202/2013, "(1) The calculation of the monthly interest rate shall be based on a calendar year of 365 or 366 days, taking into account, in the numerator of the fraction of the formula, the actual number of days included between due dates, and in the denominator of the same fraction – 365 or, respectively, 366 days."

Thus, from the combined interpretation of these legal provisions, it results that the interest rate is applied exclusively to the sum actually drawn from the credit and is calculated based on the current outstanding balance of the credit remaining to be paid, not on the total value of the credit. However, the mathematical calculation related to the "Repayment Schedule" in the Agreement attests that the Creditor applied the interest rate to the total value of the credit throughout the duration of the Agreement. This method of calculation violates the provisions of Art. 3 and Art. 14 para. (1) of Law No. 202/2013.

8. Thus, the "repayment schedule" attached to the Agreement evidently denotes a violation of the principle of Law No. 202/2013, and OCN "OK Credit" SRL cannot invoke the validity of an interest calculation that was established in violation of imperative provisions. Or, in this case, from the Preliminary Request it results that the creditor erroneously bases its arguments on the ratio between the sums disbursed and those returned, starting from the premises of the correctness of the payment schedule and the sums calculated for payment by the debtor. Conversely, the essence of the violation refers to the fundamentally incorrect calculation of the interest that the creditor submits for payment.

9. Regarding the arguments of OCN "OK Credit" SRL concerning the irrevocable judicial decision regarding the collection of the debt and court costs, the authority considers that these cannot be accepted as grounds for justifying an illegal mechanism for calculating interest, as this concerns the collection of arrears, and not the analysis of the legality of interest calculation by the creditor.

In this context, it is noted the opinion of the Legal Commission, appointments and immunities expressed in letter No. CJ-04 No. 75/28.06.2024 according to which "Thus, if the petition is preceded by a judicial act issued in a specific action regarding the collection of the debt, based on the principle of the mandatory nature of judicial acts, abstention from examination may be founded, but nothing prevents the National Financial Market Commission from examining the petition, expressing itself on the legality/illegality of a contractual clause and recommending the petitioner to file a request for revision. These actions cannot be considered as interference in the effect of the legal act. It is noted that each action is unique in its own way. It is important that the object of the petition received by the National Financial Market Commission does not deviate from the object of the court action (Art. 240 para. (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure: The court adopts the decision within the limits of the claims presented by the plaintiff). The National Financial Market Commission may verify the contract in light of the abusive nature of contractual clauses if the court has not expressed itself on them in the judicial decision. ".

1 The total value of the credit – the total sums made available based on a credit contract;

Therefore, starting from the premise of the prevailing protected public interest, the existence of a judicial decision does not practically validate the creditor's calculation practices, does not prevent the CNPF from ordering the recalculation of illegally charged interest, and does not influence the analysis of the legality of the mechanism applied.

10. At the same time, according to the principle of good faith, enshrined in Art. 10 of the Civil Code, the professional is obliged to act with loyalty, transparency, and equity in contractual relations with the consumer, to prevent any form of contractual imbalance, and to strictly respect the applicable regulatory framework. In the matter of financial services intended for consumers, the standard of diligence imposed on the professional is high, and non-compliance with legal provisions regarding the method of interest calculation constitutes a direct violation of the obligation of good faith and the corresponding professional conduct, since diligence materializes a priori through respect for legal provisions.

11. In conclusion, the Decision in the contested part was issued within the limits of the powers provided by Law No. 192/1998 on the National Financial Market Commission, Law No. 105/2003 on consumer protection, and Law No. 202/2013, which confer upon the authority the prerogative to supervise compliance with legislation in the field of financial services and to ensure the protection of consumers' rights.

Accordingly, Decision No. 47/4/2025 is well-founded and legal, being issued with respect for the principles of legality, proportionality, and protection of the public interest.

12. Regarding the preliminary procedure, it is noted that, by the Disposition of the President of the CNPF No. 1156 dated 11.11.2025 Regarding the extension of the term of the preliminary procedure, initiated by the Preliminary Request submitted by OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL (Disposition), it was extended until 30.11.2025 (inclusive). This Disposition was communicated to the creditor by CNPF letter No. 06-5/4438 dated 12.11.2025. Additionally, by CNPF letter No. 06-5/4526 dated 18.11.2025, the creditor was informed of the right to be heard, under Art. 94 of the Administrative Code, being granted a term until 24.11.2025, for sending to the email address office@cnpf.md, an exposition containing arguments additional to those related in the Preliminary Request, if these can be formulated.

13. On the subject, on the noted date, the creditor submitted a document with additional support (registered with CNPF under No. 8470) in which it reiterated the arguments from the preliminary request, additionally, the creditor supports as follows: "[...] We draw attention to the fact that CNPF interprets the legislation and gives its opinion that the interest calculation should be calculated from the current balance of the remaining credit. If we read the official version of the law in Russian, which provides: - 'interest rate on the credit – an interest rate expressed as a fixed percentage or floating, applied annually to the sum of the received credit;' - it is evident that the interest is calculated from the sum disbursed of the loan and not from the remaining balance of the credit. Thus, we consider that any deviations from the legislation in force at the moment of concluding the loan agreement No. [...] dated 05.01.2022 O.C.N. 'Ok Credit' SRL did not admit a violation."

In this context, it is noted that, according to Chapter VII Implementation Measures, Art. 26 para. (1) of Law No. 202/2013, the CNPF is the competent supervisory authority in the field, having the explicit duty to monitor compliance with legal provisions and to intervene when it detects deviations from the applicable regulatory framework. By virtue of this legal role, the CNPF, through the Contested Decision, exposed the manner in which, within the limits of its discretionary right, it implements the norms of Law No. 202/2013.

14. Accordingly, following the examination of the arguments presented in the Preliminary Request, no proof of violations of material or procedural norms that would determine the admission of the Request is established.

From the considerations exposed above, on the basis of Art. 18 para. (3), Art. 20 para. (1), para. (6) and para. (7) and Art. 22 para. (3) of Law No. 192/1998 on the National Financial Market Commission, the Civil Code, Law No. 105/2003 on consumer protection, Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts, Art. 17, Art. 19, Art. 162 para. (1) and para. (3) lit. a), Art. 166, Art. 167 para. (3), Art. 169 para. (2) and para. (3) of the Administrative Code and the Regulation on the organization and functioning of the National Financial Market Commission (CNPF Decision No. 57/11/2022),

The National Financial Market Commission DECIDES:

1. The Preliminary Request regarding the partial annulment of CNPF Decision No. 47/4 dated 01.10.2025 regarding the petition registered with the National Financial Market Commission under No. 1599 on 04.03.2025, in relation to OCN "OK CREDIT" SRL (registered with CNPF under No. 7914 on 31.10.2025) is rejected.

2. This Decision may be contested with an administrative litigation action, submitted to the Chisinau Court, Rascani seat (MD-2068, Chisinau, Kiev 3 St.), within 30 days from the date of its communication.

3. This Decision enters into force on the date of adoption, is communicated to the recipient in accordance with the legislation, and is published on the official website of the CNPF (www.cnpf.md).

Dumitru BUDIANSCHI, PRESIDENT