22/07/2026
With the adoption of the new Law on the Protection of Financial Service Consumers in March 2025, banks were required to offer specific relief measures to borrowers who find themselves in difficult life circumstances, enabling them to continue repaying their loans on a regular basis or otherwise easing their repayment burden. In September 2025, the NBS adopted the Decision on Loan Repayment Relief, which sets out in detail the obligations of banks and the rights of consumers in relation to those relief measures.
Data for Q1 2026 show that the measures prescribed by the Decision are being successfully implemented and are enabling borrowers facing difficult life circumstances, in cooperation with lenders, to find sustainable solutions for the continued regular repayment of their obligations.
During the observed period, decisions were made on requests for relief measures submitted in respect of 2,321 loan accounts, with the total outstanding debt under those loans amounting to c. RSD 2.3 bn. Relief measures were applied to 1,825 loan accounts. In other words, of all processed requests for relief measures, banks approved 79% of requests, while the total outstanding debt under those loans at the time the relief measures were granted amounted to RSD 1.9 bn.
In addition to relief measures approved upon borrowers’ requests, lenders also granted relief measures on their own initiative in respect of a further 913 loan accounts. These are situations in which a lender, based on its established loan monitoring mechanism, identifies early signs of repayment difficulties experienced by an individual borrower and offers that borrower appropriate relief measures to help overcome circumstances that have made loan repayment more difficult. For these loans, the originally contracted amount totalled around RSD 968 mn, while the outstanding debt at the time the request was initiated by the lender amounted to almost RSD 874 mn. This confirms the importance of banks' preventive approach and their proactive role in such cases.
Of the total of 496 loan accounts for which requests for relief measures were not approved, banks rejected 310 requests, while in 186 cases borrowers declined the measures offered by banks.
By loan type, the largest number of resolved requests submitted by borrowers related to cash loans, which accounted for 76% of all resolved requests, or 1,761 loan accounts. Overdrafts accounted for 7% of resolved requests, while working capital loans and credit cards each accounted for 6%. Housing loans represented 3% of resolved requests (65 loan accounts), with relief measures granted in 81.5% of those cases.
The most common circumstance cited in requests for relief measures was loss of employment, accounting for 53.7% of all requests, followed by a significant reduction in income (19.2%), other circumstances (14.6%), serious illness (8.7%), difficult family circumstances (2.3%), serious injuries (1%), and divorce (0.6%).
As regards the types of relief, the most frequently approved measures involved extending the loan repayment period, either as a standalone measure or in combination with other relief measures, such as a reduction in the interest rate, deferred payments or a change in the type of loan agreement. A significant number of borrowers also benefited from approved temporary suspension of loan repayments for a specified period (without the accrual of interest on due but unpaid liabilities), as well as deferred payment of the total outstanding debt.
The results for Q1 2026 are encouraging and confirm that the Decision on Loan Repayment Relief has established an effective mechanism for providing permanent and systematic support to citizens who encounter difficult circumstances during the repayment of their loans that make repayment more burdensome. The NBS will continue to insist on the application of this borrower support instrument and, where its regular supervisory activities identify irregularities, will require that they be remedied and impose appropriate sanctions. The NBS will also continue to inform the public on a regular basis about the results achieved in the implementation of loan repayment relief measures.
Governor’s Office
