Penza, 2 September 2015. PenzaNews. The representatives of Home Credit Bank (“Home Credit and Finance Bank”), that has offices throughout Russia, including the Penza region, hope that the decrease of interest rate for Visa Platinum debit cards and “Good News” deposits down to 7.8% as of September 1 would not lead to an outflow of clients.

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“Following the bank service tariffs of Home Credit Bank for private customers, the interest rate and commission amount for debit cards may change in either way during the term of the service agreement. […] We hope to continue working with you even in the face of the upcoming changes,” reads an SMS announcement by Home Credit Bank received by one of its customers in the morning of Wednesday, September 2.

The bank have been offering its clients Gold class debit cards “Good News” since April 16, 2015, and locked the registration for the eponymous deposit that had been popular with clients due to its convenient features, the new debit card being advertised as its replacement.

According to Evgeny Sidorov, direct sales and marketing department director of Home Credit Bank, the deposit plan “Good News” “likely was the most popular deposit offer in our range.”

“Our clients greatly valued the ability to withdraw and add funds without loosing interest profit. With the intention to offer the most convenient and profitable deposit product in mind, we have created the debit card ‘Good News.’ Now our clients have gained direct access to their money and are able to withdraw funds at any time without interest loss and with stable high profit,” read the commenta of Evgeny Sidorov published on the bank’s website on April 16.

However, the users of Banki.ru almost immediately suggested the offer will become less attractive in the future and added that the deposit was a better option from the start, due to fixed six-month interest rate and lack of service fees.

On June 25, Home Credit Bank announced the decrease of interest rate for new “Good News” debit cards down to 8.8% as of July 1 while keeping the interest rate for already existing ones at 10%.

A month later, on July 24, the bank once again decreased the interest rate for new debit cards registered after July 1 down to 8% as of August 1.

On August 28, Home Credit Bank announced the decision to decrease the interest rates for all Visa Platinum and “Good News” debit cards down to 7.8%, including those opened before July 1.

However, according to certain financial observers, the bank failed to thoroughly and timely inform all clients about the changes, thus violating its own rules that the tariffs enter into force seven days after their publication in bank offices or on the bank website, as the news were published online and disseminated via SMS only by 16.00 of Friday, August 28, likely caused by an official media request about the problem.