PM presents bills to help citizens with blocked bank accounts

The government will move three bills, on the write-off of physical persons' debts, on financial distraint, and amendments to the Consumer Bankruptcy Act to facilitate the position of citizens with blocked bank accounts and ensure a decrease of their debt, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday.

When the bills are enacted, the number of citizens with blocked accounts is expected to drop by more than 80,000 and their total debt by more than HRK 33 billion.

As of March 31, there were 325,254 citizens with blocked accounts owing HRK 43.37 billion in total, Plenkovic said at a press conference.

The bill on the write-off of physical persons' debts will make it possible to write off debts whose principal is up to HRK 10,000, owed to the government and state-owned companies, which will result in 11,000 citizens having their accounts unblocked, he said, adding that this measure would cut the debt of less than 170,000 people by HRK 1 billion as many owe more than HRK 10,000.

This is a message of solidarity and we wish to encourage private creditors to do the same as they will get tax breaks, Plenkovic said, calling on banks, telecoms, credit card companies and credit unions to show social responsibility for citizens whose accounts have been blocked for a long time.

He also announced a stimulating tax debt rollover model.

The financial distraint bill is aimed at discouraging and restricting the seizure of money in citizens' accounts, which has proven to be unsuccessful, and to stop the Financial Agency from seizing money if a claim has not been entirely collected in three years, Plenkovic said.

This measure will reduce the number of citizens with blocked accounts by over 71,000 and, together with the previous measure, it will reduce the debt by HRK 32 billion, he added.

The bill of amendments to the Consumer Bankruptcy Act is targeted at citizens whose accounts have been blocked for over three years and whose debt principal does not exceed HRK 20,000, Plenkovic said, adding that there were 80,000 such citizens as of March 31.

He said said the amendments would allow citizens with blocked accounts to contest bankruptcy and prevent the sale of real estate if the debt capital was below HRK 20,000.

Plenkovic announced the adoption of a new distraint law and said the measures presented today would result in more efficient collection. The provisions will be put to public consultation, he added.

The government plans for parliament to enact the three bills by July 13.

Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said citizens owed the most to banks, or 43% of the total debt, and most had their accounts blocked over debts to telecoms.

The largest number of citizens, about 100,000, owe less than HRK 10,000, while 4,694 owe more than HRK 1 million each, over HRK 22 billion in total or over 50% of the total debt.

Ninety-seven percent of the debts are long-standing and only 365 citizens have had their accounts blocked for less than a year, said Maric.

Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic said the bill of amendments to the Consumer Bankruptcy Act was moved to simplify the bankruptcy procedure as the current law did not yield the expected results. The amended law will apply to debts exceeding HRK 20,000 and accounts blocked for over three years, he added.

Text: Hina

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