The Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), reported that the entity or person acting under the name “Banca Activa SA” or “Financial Banking” is not registered in any way with the regulator, nor does it have authorization to operate from the Superintendence of Financial Services.
This supposed company offers loans requiring a payment prior to disbursement.
The denounced case
As explained by the BCU, a user filed a complaint against this firm for not receiving the funds from a loan offered through WhatsApp.
In the complaint, the user stated that once he was informed of the conditions of the loan, he was required to make several prior payments, corresponding to “stamps and stamps”, and that having paid those payments to Abitab, the loan was not disbursed.
According to the documentation provided by the complainant, “Banca Activa” also provided a credit agreement displaying the BCU logo, and “Val Servicios Financieros”, a financial services company registered with the BCU, but not authorized to grant credits.
recommendations
The BCU recalled that it does not intervene in the commercial operations of third parties or participate in the offering of their products or services, nor does it sponsor any entity.
“The inclusion of the Banco Central del Uruguay (BCU) logo confuses users regarding the legal situation of the entity and the scope of the regulation and supervision of the Central Bank of Uruguay in relation to its managers”, says the resolution.
On the other hand, it recalled that in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 of Decree Law 15,322 of September 17, 1982, The use of the words “bank”, “banking” or similar is prohibited to all private entities that have not obtained authorization from the Executive Branch to act as banks.
In this sense, the public is urged to be cautious around credit offers that present, in particular, the following characteristics:
* The people or companies that offer the credit are not registered with the Central Bank of Uruguay.
* Documentation supposedly issued by the financial regulator and supervisor, or with its iso-logo, is presented.
* The prior disbursement of money is requested.
* There is no physical location of the company or the indicated address does not correspond to it.
Diego Battiste
With these types of offers, It is suggested to try to obtain clear, truthful, timely and sufficient information from the service provider, its reputation, as well as the operations and conditions to which it will be subject.; in particular, prior to providing money when applying for credit, documents, information on bank accounts, passwords or any other personal data that requires prior informed consent for processing by third parties.
Likewise, it is suggested to the public that in order to become aware of if the company is registered or has authorization to operate by the Superintendence of Financial Services of the BCUconsult the records available on the institutional website of the BCU.
