"No-document" loans haven't disappeared; they've simply moved elsewhere. This refers to the tactics used by some non-bank financial institutions (IFNs) in Romania

Wednesday, Sep 10, 2025

HotNews

Consumer protection issues in small consumer loans are compared between Bulgaria and Romania, highlighting predatory lending practices.

🔗 Read the article on hotnews.ro

[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Neighboring countries face serious consumer protection issues regarding small consumer loans, exemplified by Bulgaria’s market with around 200 non-bank financial institutions offering easy credit access, which has historically allowed entities to circumvent European directives and national laws despite interest rate caps. In Romania, after investigative journalism exposed fraud and misuse of personal data by some Non-Bank Financial Institutions (IFNs), authorities have taken action. Since November 11, 2024, Romanian IFNs are subject to official interest rate caps for consumer and mortgage loans, limiting the total repayment amount to no more than double the original loan value to curb excessive debt and abuse. While Romania has implemented stricter regulations, both countries still rely on legal challenges as a primary defense against financial abuses by these institutions.

🔗 Read the original article

Previous page Nato countries in the northeastern region are showing Moscow their strength
Next page Macron defies public opinion by appointing his preferred candidate as Prime Minister, describing him as a "continuity" figure

© 2026 Pulse - Europe beyond the beat


PULSE is an initiative for cross-border collaborative journalism in Europe co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n. PO 4500158093.

PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

At the heart of PULSE are 10 leading national news outlets (Delfi – Lithuania, Deník Referendum – Czechia, Der Standard – Austria, EfSyn – Greece, El Confidencial – Spain, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland, HotNews – Romania, HVG – Hungary, Il Sole 24 Ore – Italy, Mediapool – Bulgaria) and three transnational organisations, including OBCT , n-ost and Voxeurop .

Additional outlets and journalists are involved as associate partners, including EUobserver , Føljeton (Denmark), H-Alter (Croatia), Levila (Estonia), Rubryka (Ukraine), and The Journal Investigates (Ireland).

PULSE is driven by a sort of virtual transnational newsroom made up of journalists from all the publications involved. It collaboratively produces new journalistic content on European issues on a daily basis, coming in many different languages. The editorial output amounts to over a thousand publications per year, mostly in article form.

PULSE also runs 4 thematic networks open to any European journalist interested in crucial issues such as EU enlargement, relations between the EU and other global powers, the EU’s green transition, or media and the information society. These networks function as online communities and periodically publish calls for pitches.