Legislative Decree no. 385 of 1993 (Uniform Law on Banking and Credit Matters), as well as defining the Bank of Italy’s information, regulatory and inspection powers against banking institutions in Italy, imposes on banks rigid criteria for the transparency of contractual terms and relationships with customers.
Title VI of the abovementioned decree, as replaced by art. 4, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree No.141 of 2010, stipulates that it represents the right of the client to know clearly the interest rate, the prices and other economic conditions relating to the transactions and services offered, through the provision of contracts written in writing and clear communications, at least once a year, concerning the performance of the report.
Prior to the termination of the credit agreement, the lender is required to evaluate the creditworthiness of the consumer on the basis of adequate information, to inform the method of withdrawal, the right of the customer to repay the amount due to the lender in advance and to obtain (art 125 sexies) the repayment of the costs related to the loan in proportion to the remaining life of the contract (commissions and insurance premium).
Recurring cases of the unlawfulness of the consumer’s naming of public and private regulated databases.
The Central Risk at the Bank of Italy, a public matrix information system dealing with borrowing from financial companies, and private credit information companies (SICs), often lead to serious personal injury and commercial reputation of the subject unduly reported.
In this regard, the Code of Deontology and good behavior for Information Systems Managed by Private Subjects on Consumer Credits, Reliability and Punctuality in Payments, Section 4, Paragraph 7, and Art. 125, paragraph 3, of the Single Banking Act, the Bank’s obligation to inform the interested party about the imminent disclosure of the data in one or more credit information systems.
Still, it is a further obligation for the banking institution to examine the overall situation of the client before enrolling it in the bad credit register in the credit databases.