In 2014 the average value of a credit granted by Banca Comercială Română (BCR) for the purpose of purchasing a home in Timis County was about 163.000 lei, roughly similar to the average value of a credit granted by any other bank in Romania. 

41% of the credits granted by BCR for purchasing a home were used for buying 2-room apartments, 23% for buying 3-room apartments and 11% for buying studio apartments. More than 19% of the credits were used for purchasing a villa/house.

The customer profile

Regarding the profile of the customers who borrowed money from BCR for purchasing a home, these are men (25-40 years), married, with higher education.

“For more than 9 years, we have collaborated with our partners from the real estate market to help families find and purchase their dream home through BCR’s financial solutions. For the last years BCR, has focused on eliminating the credit risks, namely the fluctuation of the exchange rate and the fluctuation of the interest rate. As long as we offer customers attractive fixed interests, they will prefer to protect themselves from the interest rate risks for longer periods of time. BCR first introduced the fixed interest rate that covered 3 years, then the fixed interest rate that covered 5 years and afterwards BCR made a major step by introducing the fixed interest rate that covered 10 years. More than 80% of our customers chose in 2014 the “Casa Mea” mortgage credit with fixed interest rate that covered 5 years. Considering that mortgage credits are granted for a long period of time of up to 30 years, we would like to offer our customers predictability for a longer period of time”, said Teodor Mincu, Supervisor - BCR Retail Partners Management Office.

BCR extended the fixed interest rate period for the “Casa Mea” mortgage credits to 10 years, with an interest rate of 5.95% for the customers that already have or will open a salary/pension account with BCR, with a ZERO application processing fee. For customers that do not have a salary account with BCR, the interest rate increases by 0.2%.

BCR is the first bank in Romania which decided, starting October 2012, to grant credits only in the currency of the income earned by the customers.  

“We thank the real estate agencies and the real estate developers that are BCR partners and which participated in the 5th BCR Real Estate Road Show. Compared to the event that took place in 2011 (the first edition of this event) during which we talked almost exclusively about Euro crediting and “Prima Casa” programme, today we talk about crediting house loans in the national currency and about families that already purchased their second home (more than 25% of the customers we had in 2014)”, Teodor Mincu added.

Calculation Example for a “Casa Mea” credit totaling LEI 160.000, covering 30 years: DAE = 6,14%, fixed interest rate covering 10 years with a 5.95% variable rate: 5,96%/year (ROBOR 6M + 3,95%); ZERO lei application processing fee; apartment evaluation fee: 370 lei; total payable value: 344.046,47 lei, credit total fee: 184.046.47 lei. This example was only valid in January 2015 for the customers that received their salaries in BCR accounts.

Banca Comercială Română (BCR), a member of Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, providing universal banking operations (retail, corporate & investment banking, treasury and capital markets), and covering specialty companies working on the leasing market, private pensions and housing banks. BCR is Romania’s No. 1 bank in terms of asset value (over 14,4 €bn.), in terms of client base and in terms of savings and crediting. BCR is also Romania’s most important financial brand, judging by the client trust rate and by the number of persons who consider that BCR is their main banking partner.

BCR uses a network of 22 corporate business centres and 23 mobile offices dedicated to corporate clients, and 538 retails units located in most communities inhabited by at least 10,000 citizens to provide a full range of financial products and services. BCR is Romania’s No. 1 bank running on the banking transactions market, since BCR customers have the largest ATM network at their disposal – nearly 2,000 ATMs and 13,500 POS terminals enabling customers to use their cards for shopping purposes, as well as the complete Internet banking, mobile banking, phone-banking and e-commerce services.

Erste Group is one of the main suppliers of financial services in Eastern European Union. About 45,000 bank officers working in 2,800 branches in seven countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia) assist 16.2 million customers. Erste Group reported a total asset pool worth €196.3 bn. and a 55.1% cost-to-income ratio at the end of  2014. First-ranking common equity index (Basel 3 implemented partially) was maintained at 10.6%.

BCR – External Communication 

Cezar Marin, e-mail: cezar.marin@bcr.ro

For more details about the products and services provided by BCR, please use one of the coordinates below to contact us:

InfoBCR 

Web: www.bcr.ro

Email: contact.center@bcr.ro

Telverde: 0800.801.BCR (0800.801.227), toll-free from all national networks.

Twitter: @infoBCR