More and more banks are becoming transparent about the sale of the foreclosed assets and announce the time of the auctions on dedicated websites and provide the necessary information for potential buyers.
The local division of Austrian lender Raiffeisen sends e-mail alerts with the latest ‘for sale’ ads to those who register for the service, allows quick searches by price and lets users save the ads they find interesting.
The bank is selling apartments in Bucharest, homes with plots of land, most of which in rural areas and some land.
Foreclosure is something banks do not like to talk about openly. No one denies having resorted to such steps to collect the debt from customers that stopped repaying their loans, but banks are reluctant to reveal information about the extent of such steps or the number of customers that lost their home as a result thereof since the onset of the crisis.
The new website that Raiffeisen launched will also display assets repossessed from corporate customers, such as industrial equipment and retail space. It will also include a special section to sell various assets after reaching an agreement with the customers who can no longer repay their loans. In this case, the bank works with the customer to find a buyer.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)