The Tunisian Information Information Organization (OTIC) sounds alarm: some Tunisian commercial banks would not correctly respect a law that has entered into force since August 2024 and supposed to relieve borrowers.
In a press release published this Wednesday and reported by the TAP agency, the OTIC denounces a bad application of article 412 ter of law n ° 2024-41. This text provides for a 50% reduction on fixed rate interest of certain credits.
Clearly, if you have an initial credit of more than 7 years, and the interest you have paid over the past three years exceed 8% of the capital remaining due, you are entitled to a reduction in half of the interest rate.
But now, according to OTIC, several banks apply this reduction only from the date of the customer’s request, while the law requires that it applies to the entire remaining credit.
Worse still, some institutions would delay to postpone the new reimbursement plan, while the legal deadline is 15 days maximum after receipt of the request.
The organization also recalls that banks must provide an updated damping table to the customers concerned, with the new interest rate reduced by half.
In terms of figures, according to data published on April 14, 2025 by the Banking and Financial Council (CBF), more than 89,000 reduction requests have been filed. Among them, around 57,600 have been treated, almost 2,900 are still underway, and more than 28,000 have been rejected for non-eligibility.
OTIC calls on the authorities to strengthen monitoring of this law in order to guarantee consumers their rights and prevent banks by bypassing the spirit of the text.
