Bucharest, 20th of November, 2017 – 96% of Romanians consider it important to read very carefully any document before signing it, let it be a contract for the purchase of a house or the sale of goods, a credit agreement or the employment contract. However, only 67% say they read the contracts carefully each time, and 54% even admit they have gone through at least one situation when they signed a document without reading it, reveals a national survey conducted by Provident on a sample of 1,218 respondents.
Two-thirds of the survey participants also say that each signature is important, including those on common documents such as minutes, invoices or copies of original documents, and that they pay great attention when signing a document. At the same time, 4 out of 5 say they did not let anyone else sign for them, regardless of the document, nor would they agree to do so in the future.
The most important signature in a person’s life is the one on the credit agreement, 26% of respondents to the Provident survey said, whilst another 25% believe that the signature on the marriage certificate is the one that matters most. At the same time, 19% consider the signature on the contract for the sale of a personal good to be the most important, 13% the one on the child’s birth certificate, 11% claim to be the signature on the contract for purchasing a personal good, and 8% the one on the employment contract. In this context, for 64% of Romanians is important to know that the financial institution from which they took or are thinking about taking a loan acts responsibly when offering financial products to their customers.
Provident research is part of the recently launched Responsible leding Campaign, which aims to raise consumer awareness on financial products and to help them learn about what a responsible borrowing decision is, but also to find out more about Provident’s collaboration with over one million customers so far.
The survey was conducted online in October 2017 on a sample of 1,218 respondents across the country, of which 59% are employed and 5% are entrepreneurs. Only 22% have taken a loan from a non-banking financial institution such as Provident over the past five years.
Supplementary information about the Responsible lending Campaign
The Responsible lending Campaign is a campaign through which Provident aims to raise awareness among financial consumers. In this regard, a section dedicated to responsible lending has been created on the company’s website, where customers or prospective customers can find out about what a responsible borrowing decision involves, as well as details of Provident’s collaboration with over one million customers so far. We believe it is essential for every customer to understand the responsibilities of a loan – both the company and its own. The campaign was launched on 5th of September through an exercise of attention to the viewers. Thus, in the advert broadcasted by Provident on several national TV channels, the disclaimer (the representative example) was replaced by an unrepresentative example. You can see the results of this exercise here. The campaign was nominated by the Art Directors Club as the most creative campaign in October. The purpose of this exercise of attention was to measure the level of interest of viewers when it comes to offers from financial institutions, whether we are talking about credits or deposits.