On the petition registered with the National Financial Market Commission No. 6214 dated 19.08.2025 regarding OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
NATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKET COMMISSION
77 Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt Blvd., Chișinău, MD 2012, tel: (373 22) 859 401, www.cnpf.md, e-mail: office@cnpf.md

DECISION
October 28, 2025 No. 51/1
On the petition registered with the National Financial Market Commission No. 6214 dated 19.08.2025, regarding OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL

On 19.08.2025, within the National Financial Market Commission (CNPF), petition No. 6214 was registered by Mr. [...] (debtor/consumer), requesting CNPF intervention regarding the legal relationship mentioned below.

I. Factual Circumstances
According to the administrative procedure materials, it is established that the legal relationship between OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL (creditor) and the debtor was established based on Loan Contract No. [...] dated [...] (Contract).

1. The credit granting conditions resulting from the Contract are as follows:
   1.1. total loan amount: 150,000.00 MDL;
   1.2. interest rate: 36 percent per annum, fixed;
   1.3. penalty: 0.04 percent, calculated on the total loan amount;
   1.4. loan origination fee: 5.00 percent;
   1.5. monthly loan administration fee: 1.06 percent;
   1.6. fee for extending the loan term and renegotiating the loan debt: 0 percent;
   1.7. annual percentage rate of charge (APRC): 58.29 percent;
   1.8. repayment method – annuity, loan repaid in installments according to the repayment schedule: installments of 8,445.12 MDL each;
   1.9. total cost of the loan: 161,884.62 MDL;
   1.10. total amount payable by the debtor: 311,884.62 MDL;
   1.11. loan term: 1,094 days.

II. Procedural Circumstances
2. Since a party to the contractual relationship in question is OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL, pursuant to CNPF President's Order No. 913 dated 28.08.2025 regarding the ex officio joinder of OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL to the administrative procedure initiated by Mr. [...]'s petition, and the suspension of the administrative procedure, the creditor was joined ex officio to said administrative procedure.
3. By the same Order, the administrative procedure was suspended for 14 days, due to the creditor's request, via CNPF letter No. 04-5/3524 dated 29.08.2025, to submit relevant explanations and, if applicable, copies of relevant supporting documents.
4. Consequently, on 12.09.2025, the creditor submitted the requested explanations and documents (registered at CNPF under No. 6757).
5. Additionally, considering the imperative to conduct thorough investigations, which requires time for meticulous examination of submitted evidence and formation of objective and reasoned conclusions, by CNPF President's Order No. 1034 dated 01.10.2025 regarding the extension of the general term of the administrative procedure initiated by Mr. [...]'s petition, the general term of the administrative procedure was extended until 17.10.2025.
6. Subsequently, by CNPF President's Order No. 1064 dated 08.10.2025 regarding the suspension of the administrative procedure initiated by Mr. [...]'s petition, the administrative procedure was suspended for 14 days, with a request made via CNPF letter No. 04-5/4048 dated 10.10.2025 for the submission of additional explanations regarding compliance with Art. 15(7)(a) of Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts (Law No. 202/2013), concerning the loan origination fee of 5 percent (point 2.2 of the Contract).
7. As a result, on 20.10.2025, the creditor's explanations were registered at CNPF under No. 7618.
8. To ensure compliance with the right to be heard prior to decision issuance, via CNPF letter No. 04-5/4197 dated 23.10.2025, sent to info@ok-credit.md, the creditor was notified of the hearing date and time (in this case, 27.10.2025, 13:30), requesting confirmation of participation or refusal to participate by 27.10.2025, 09:00.
9. On 24.10.2025, via letter No. 05-10/2025 (registered at CNPF under No. 7738 on 24.10.2025), OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL informed that, due to inability to appear, it waives its right to participate and be heard regarding the facts and circumstances related to the petition submitted by Mr. [...].

III. Legal Circumstances
10. Pursuant to Art. 36(2)(g) of Law No. 105/2003 on consumer protection (Law No. 105/2003) and Art. 26(1) of Law No. 202/2013, CNPF monitors compliance with consumer protection legislation by subjects specified in Art. 4(21) of Law No. 192/1998 on the National Financial Market Commission, including legislation in the field of consumer credit contracts.
11. Pursuant to the main concepts established in Art. 3 of Law No. 202/2013, a consumer is a natural person who intends to order or procure, or who orders, procures, or uses products and services for needs unrelated to entrepreneurial or professional activity.
12. Pursuant to Art. 3(1) and (2) of the Civil Code, "(1) Any natural person who, within a civil legal relationship, acts predominantly for purposes unrelated to entrepreneurial or professional activity has the status of a consumer. A natural person does not have consumer status if the other party to the civil legal relationship does not have professional status. (2) Any natural or legal person of public or private law who, within a civil legal relationship, acts for purposes related to entrepreneurial or professional activity has professional status, even if the person does not aim to obtain profit from this activity."
13. Pursuant to Art. 26(1) of Law No. 202/2013, the supervisory authority for compliance with legislation in the field of consumer credit contracts is CNPF.
14. In accordance with Art. 16(a) and (b) of Law No. 105/2003 on consumer protection (Law No. 105/2003), "Consumers, upon concluding contracts, have the following rights: a) to make free decisions when purchasing products or services, without having abusive clauses or clauses that may favor the use of unfair commercial practices imposed on them in contracts, capable of influencing their choice; b) to benefit from clear and precise drafting of contractual clauses, including those regarding main characteristics and warranty conditions, exact indication of price or tariff, as well as exact determination of credit conditions and interest rates;".
15. Pursuant to Art. 10(1) of the Civil Code, "(1) Natural and legal persons participating in civil legal relationships must exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations in good faith, in accordance with the law, the contract, public order, and good morals. Good faith is presumed until proven otherwise."
16. Pursuant to Art. 11(1) of the Civil Code, "(1) Good faith is a standard of conduct of a party characterized by correctness, honesty, openness, and consideration of the other party's interests in the legal relationship."
17. Pursuant to Art. 775(1) of the Civil Code, "(1) The debtor and creditor must act in good faith at the moment of birth, during existence, at the moment of performance, and at the moment of discharge of the obligation."
18. Relevant to this case is also Art. 15(7)(a) of Law No. 202/2013 (in the wording applicable at the time of contract conclusion), which establishes that "(7) It is prohibited: a) applying the annual credit interest rate specified in the credit contract if it exceeds 50 percent, and all other related payments (fees, taxes, penalties, late interest, and any other type of payment), excluding interest, per credit day exceed 0.04 percent of the total credit amount."
19. In this context, in accordance with Art. 15(9) and (91) of Law No. 202/2013, "(9) In case of violation of the provisions of para. (7) or (8), the creditor has the right to request only the return of the initial disbursed amount according to the granted credit contract, without claiming other payments provided in the contract (including interest, fees, taxes, penalties, late interest, and any other type of payments). This provision also applies if the creditor has transferred to a third party the right to collect claims related to the granted credit contract. (91) The supervisory authority requests the creditor to return all payments provided in the contract (which include interest, fees, taxes, penalties, late interest, and any other type of payment), excluding the initial disbursed amount according to the credit contract, in case of violation of the provisions of para. (7) and/or (8)."

IV. CNPF Assessment
20. Analyzing the contractual clauses, information from documents submitted by participants in the administrative procedure, in light of legal requirements, CNPF reveals the following:

20.1. Initially, the establishment of the professional status possessed by OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL in relation to the consumer is claimed, for the subsequent qualification of the abusive nature of the contractual clauses.
According to information from the State Register of Legal Entities, OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL has, as its main activity, inter alia, non-bank credit granting, and is registered in the Register of Authorized Non-Bank Credit Organizations.
Thus, it is concluded that OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL conducts non-bank credit granting activity in a professional capacity, based on the clauses and conditions offered by it, with contractual clauses drafted in advance for a multitude of contracts.

20.2. Non-compliance with Law No. 202/2013 regarding the completeness and correctness of information included in the Contract and in the Standard Pre-contractual Information on Consumer Credits (Pre-contractual Information)
Regarding the requirements of Art. 5(3)(g) of Law No. 202/2013, it is noted that a complete representative example is missing in the Pre-contractual Information, specifically the absence of specification of hypotheses used for APRC calculation.
Additionally, Art. 10(3)(g) of Law No. 202/2013 establishes that "g) the annual percentage rate of charge and the total amount payable by the consumer, indicated prominently (in bold) and calculated at the time of concluding the credit contract; all hypotheses used for calculating this rate are mentioned;". In this case, contrary to this provision, note that the APRC and total amount payable by the consumer are not indicated in bold. Furthermore, it is found that operational expenses amounting to 57 MDL were not included in the total cost of the credit, and consequently, the total amount payable by the borrower is presented erroneously.

20.3. Non-compliance with Law No. 202/2013 requirements regarding the Contract's name
The Contract bears the name "Loan Contract".
Likewise, its content uses the words "loan", "lender", and "borrower", which are terms associated with a loan contract.
Given the impropriety of these terms included in the Contract, the possibility of misleading the consumer is noted in light of the legal effects it may produce, since regulations regarding "loans" establish more favorable conditions for the debtor, potentially inducing them to accept concluding such a contract, and the term "loan" is used to the detriment of the term "credit". In the same vein, pursuant to Art. 9(1) of the Civil Code, "(1) Natural and legal persons participating in civil legal relationships must exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations in good faith, in accordance with the law, the contract, public order, and good morals. Good faith is presumed until proven otherwise." Under these conditions, the use of terms other than those defined by law and attributing them to credit contracts indicates non-compliance with the principle of good faith by the creditor.

20.4. Non-compliance with the provisions of Art. 15(7)(a) of Law No. 202/2013
20.4.1. According to point 2.2 of the Contract, "2.2 The total cost of the loan granted under the conditions of this contract, calculated at the time of contract conclusion, is 161,884.62 MDL. The value of the cost elements mentioned above, included in the total cost of the loan is: [...] - Loan origination fee, in the amount of 5%".
In this regard, it is found that OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL, under the component "other payments", charges a "Loan origination fee" of 5 percent of the borrowed amount at loan granting, calculated and collected on 17.06.2024, according to the repayment schedule.
Pursuant to Art. 15(7)(a) of Law No. 202/2013, the legislator prohibits applying the annual credit interest rate specified in the credit contract if it exceeds 50 percent, and all other related payments (fees, taxes, penalties, late interest, and any other type of payment), excluding interest, per credit day exceed 0.04 percent of the total credit amount. Therefore, the origination fee should have been calculated and collected, respecting the cumulative limit of related contract payments at a maximum of 0.04 percent per day from the total credit amount. Thus, following calculations based on the aforementioned provisions, it is concluded that the "other related payments" component, according to the Contract, must not exceed 60 MDL per day (total credit amount of 150,000.00 MDL * 0.04%). At the same time, according to contractual clauses, in addition to the origination fee, the debtor is obliged to pay an administration fee of 1,590 MDL monthly, and according to the settlement schedule, on 18.06.2024, the collection of the origination fee was registered in the amount of 7,500 MDL, which clearly indicates exceeding the daily legal limit.

20.4.2. On 05.08.2025, via the Settlement Agreement to the Consumer Loan Contract with Interest No. [...] dated [...], the creditor made a modification to point 2.2 of the Contract, establishing "the following wording: The total cost of the granted loan calculated is 70,225.65 MDL."
This modification was made without taking into account the provisions of Art. 15(9) of Law No. 202/2013 (in force at the time of concluding the Settlement Agreement), according to which, "(9) In case of violation of the provisions of para. (7) or (8), the creditor has the right to request only the return of the initial disbursed amount according to the granted credit contract, without claiming other payments provided in the contract (including interest, fees, taxes, penalties, late interest, and any other type of payments). This provision also applies if the creditor has transferred to a third party the right to collect claims related to the granted credit contract."

20.4.3. Under Law No. 189/2025 on amending certain normative acts (for the purpose of consolidating the framework for protecting the rights of consumers of financial services) (Law No. 189/2025, in force from 25.10.2025), note that the provisions of Art. 15(7)(a) and (9) of Law No. 202/2013 were incorporated into the consolidated version of the law under a new numbering, namely in Art. 151(1)(a) and (4) of the same law.
At the same time, Art. 15(91) was repealed, and the respective norm is now found in Art. 151(5), in the following wording:
"(5) During the credit contract term, until its termination or until the credit is declared due, as well as 3 years thereafter, the court or supervisory authority has the right to request the creditor to return all payments provided in the contract, which include interest, fees, taxes, penalties, and any other type of payments, excluding the initial disbursed amount according to the credit contract, in case of violation of the provisions of para. (1) and/or (3)." Accordingly, based on the principles of applying procedural norms in time, the supervisory authority exercises its discretionary right according to its competencies, under the law applicable on the day of issuing this Decision.

21. From the above considerations, pursuant to Art. 1(1), Art. 8(t), Art. 18(3), Art. 20(1), (6) and (7) and Art. 22(3) of Law No. 192/1998 on the National Financial Market Commission, Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts, Law No. 105/2003 on consumer protection, the Civil Code, 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. It is established that OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL violated the provisions of Art. 3, Art. 5(3)(g) and Art. 10(3)(g) of Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts.
2. It is established that OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL violated the provisions of Art. 15(7)(a), in the wording applicable at the date of contract conclusion (currently Art. 151(1)(a)) of Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts, regarding the application of payments related to Loan Contract No. [...] dated [...], excluding interest, exceeding the limit of 0.04 percent per credit day from the total credit amount.
3. OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL is ordered to apply Art. 151(4) or, as applicable, (5) of Law No. 202/2013 on consumer credit contracts in relation to Loan Contract No. [...] dated [...].
4. Regarding actions taken to execute the instruction indicated in point 3, OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL will inform CNPF within 30 days from the date of communication of this Decision.
5. OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL is ordered to review, within 120 days, the portfolio of credits in execution on the date of adoption of this Decision, for the purpose of identifying all debtors in relation to whom violations of the provisions of Art. 15(7)(a) (in case of Credit Contracts concluded until 25.10.2025) of Law No. 202/2013 or, as applicable, the provisions of Art. 151(1)(a) of Law No. 202/2013 were admitted, as well as notifying respective debtors about collecting only the disbursed amount or returning by the creditor all payments provided in contracts (which include interest, fees, taxes, penalties, late interest, and any other type of payment), excluding the initial amount disbursed according to the credit contract, as applicable.
6. Regarding actions taken to execute the instruction indicated in point 4, OCN „OK CREDIT” SRL will inform CNPF monthly.
7. Control over the execution of this Decision is assigned to the Credits/Deposits Directorate within the Consumer Protection Supervision Department.
8. This Decision may be contested by filing a preliminary request to CNPF (MD-2012, Chișinău, 77 Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt Blvd.), within 30 days from the date of communication.
9. This Decision enters into force on the date of adoption, is communicated to recipients in accordance with legislation, and is published on the official website of CNPF (www.cnpf.md).

Dumitru BUDIANSCHI,
PRESIDENT