According to GYLA, in the process of legal assistance provided to pensioners, a number of systemic, including legislative, problems were identified, which require timely response from the relevant agencies
According to the "Young Lawyers' Association of Georgia", in the process of legal assistance provided by GYLA to pensioners, a number of systemic, including legislative, problems were identified, which require timely response from the relevant agencies.
According to the chairman of GYLA, Nona Kurdovanidze, during the appointment of pension, pensioners are not provided with complete information regarding the issues in which their pension can be terminated, and this issue is not properly regulated at the legislative level.
According to her own statement, there are also problems with pension loans, specifically, high interest rates are set for loans.
As stated by the chairman of GYLA, the practice that "Liberty Bank" uses towards pensioners, when "withholding pensions from pensioners in order to repay the loan without a court decision, is wrong and against the law".
"As a rule, at the stage of pension appointment, pensioners do not have complete information about the legal grounds that can be used to terminate their pension. This causes a lot of uncertainty and pensioners often, when their pension is suspended, do not know its legal basis. From the side of pensioners, this causes additional costs, time, they have to litigate in court, which can last for years. On the one hand, this may be a problem of practice, but on the other hand, it is very important to talk about a legal gap when these issues are not properly regulated. One of our recommendations addresses this very issue, to define an exact procedure by legislation, to write a written rule that would define the definition of their rights and obligations for pensioners.
The second issue is related to pension secured loans and the high interest rates associated with these loans and other issues. As of today, according to the information provided by the relevant agencies, the number of pensioners who benefit from pension loans is more than 300 thousand. A high interest rate is set on these pensions. In addition, there is a 4-fold increase in the number of complaints submitted by pensioners to the National Bank on issues related to pensions, and this is a growing trend. This indicates that significant problems are being covered here.
Also, it should be noted that during the pandemic, when the loan was postponed, it happened without proper information to the pensioners. They did not know the consequences of this rule, and it can be said that it affected absolutely all pensioners. In the end, this resulted in pensioners finding themselves in a more difficult situation instead of relief.
The practice of "Liberty Bank", which exists in relation to pensioners, is very problematic. There are a number of court decisions in this regard, including GYLA winning several cases on behalf of pensioners, which found that the practice of Liberty Bank of withholding pensions from pensioners without a court order to pay off a loan is wrong and against the law. Nevertheless, the bank still does not adjust the contracts concluded with pensioners. It should also be noted that the pensioners do not receive the documents from "Liberty Bank" that are stored in the bank about their contracts on time. This is also a bad practice that must be changed," said Nona Kurdovanidze.
The chairman of GYLA called on the National Bank of Georgia, "Social Services Agency" and "Liberty Bank" to pay due attention to the mentioned problem.
"In addition to the recommendation that we have already mentioned and addressed to the "Social Services Agency" regarding the adoption of a special rule, we have recommendations for the National Bank of Georgia:
In our opinion, it must make timely decisions regarding the applications filed on behalf of pensioners; to determine whether the pensioners' rights have been violated in relation to these issues. To resolve identified systemic problems in such a way as to implement effective supervision over the activities of the banking institution to which these problems are directed.
We also appeal to "Liberty Bank" to review the pension loan agreement and adapt these agreements to the practice that has already been established by court decisions;
To change the rule of withholding a loan due to loan obligations without a court decision/sentence;
Pensioners should be provided timely and fully with the contracts that are kept in the bank, and when offering banking products, the bank should introduce in detail the conditions that specifically apply to the use of this product", said Nona Kurdovanidze.
