On April 5, 2019, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (“CBAR”) issued the communication “A” 6664 that introduced amendments to the rules for the protection of users of financial services.
It is aimed especially for:
1. financial entities.
2. trustees of trusts creditors assigned by financial institutions
3. to non-financial companies issuing credit and / or purchase cards, except for operations not included in the “Credit Card Law”.
In this sense, it contemplates the following changes:
• Immediate information to the customer regarding card blocks. Financial entities and non-financial companies that issue credit or purchase cards which due to security measures, make it impossible to use products or services contracted by a user of financial services, must notify the customer of the blockade. The notice must be made the same day of the blocking of the card or account and by electronic medias. They must also inform the reason for the block and how to unblock them.
• Exchange rate for consumption cancellation with credit card in dollars. It is established that the exchange rate for the cancellation of consumption in dollars with a credit card will be, for issuers financial entities, at most, the selling exchange rate for transactions carried out through a window or through electronic means, as appropriate. If the automatic debit was agreed upon, the seller exchange rate will be applied for operations carried out through electronic means of payment of the closing of the same working day of the payment.
In the case of non-financial entities, the maximum exchange rate sold by electronic channels published by the Bank of the Argentine Nation will be applied on the same business day of the payment date.
• Additional information on credit card summaries. The exchange rate should be reported in the summaries of the cards as an indicator in the previous point for transactions in dollars with a credit card.
• The deadline for reimbursement of items due and / or responding to customer inquiries or complaints was reduced to 10 business days.
• Update of multi-product customer information. The norm contemplates that the client can update his personal information by electronic means or with the personnel of the entity. The entity must update the change for the rest of the products that the customer has.
• Automatic debits and payments by other means. The entities must avoid double payments with the automatic debits when the client paid by some other means in advance. It applies to both total and partial payments.
• Insufficient balance for automatic debit on credit cards. In cases where the customer has a credit card attached to the automatic debit of his account, the entity must only debit the funds available in it (and / or up to the amount authorized to be overdrawn), even if it does not cover the amount that corresponds to perform based on the expected automatic debit. The circumstance must be communicated to the client.
• Compensatory interest rate limit on credit cards issued by “other issuing companies”. The financing granted by non-financial credit providers – registered in the CBAR registry – to their customers was incorporated into the definition of “personal open market loan”. This concept serves as the basis for the effects of the weighting of the average system rates.