The Danish-owned online bank Lunar has over 900,000 customers in the Nordics. But not everyone is satisfied. One of them is Oline Sæther. It was last December that she chose to become a customer. A current account with a deposit interest rate of 4 per cent was an offer the 28-year-old couldn’t say no to. – I was very happy, and thought “shit”, here we have found a good offer, Sæther tells news. However, the happiness was short-lived. Only a few months into the customer relationship, an e-mail arrived. The interest rate on deposits was to be reduced to zero percent. – I think it was quite hair-raising when I read that they changed the interest rate for no good reason. The Consumer Council believes there may be several offenses in Sæther’s case. Got with the family Initially, Sæther was a satisfied bank customer. So satisfied that she also recommended her friends and family to join the trip. JACKPOT: Oline Sæther (28) was looking for a new bank when she found the offer from Lunar. Photo: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold As of today, there are no other banks in Norway that can boast an equally good deposit rate on a current account. In addition, the income from the good interest comes into the current account monthly, as opposed to an annual settlement. – So I see every month that I get a few hundred kroner just because of the interest. And in total it will be a few thousand kroner a year, she explains. But friends and family were also notified of the planned interest rate change on 12 September. This is one of the things that makes senior advisor at the Consumer Council Thomas Iversen react. – When the bank advertises an interest rate that they cannot initially keep, it will soon be something we call misleading marketing, and misleading marketing is illegal, explains Iversen. The bank still advertises the deposit interest rate of 4 per cent on its own websites. Sæther is crystal clear about what she means. – A real tempting offer, so to speak. Possible breach of contract The Consumer Council says that they have not seen the same from other banks. – This is a unilateral change from the bank’s side which is not about changes in either the policy rate or the interest rate market in general. It is only a matter of the bank changing its product portfolio, he says. HARD IN THE PINCH: The Consumer Council’s Thomas Iversen is not lenient in his judgment on Lunar. He believes there may be more violations of the law in the bank’s practice. Photo: Halvor Pritzlaff Njerve / The Consumer Council therefore believes that the bank must have a clear basis in the customer agreements for the change to be legal. Moreover, this basis must be what the Consumer Council describes as “reasonable”. – What does that mean? – An agreement becomes unreasonable if it is unbalanced to the consumer’s disadvantage, typically if the bank has given itself too much freedom to change the agreement to the consumer’s disadvantage. Bank on the hunt for money Lunar is a new player in the banking world and started up in 2018. Recently, the bank has been under financial pressure after they lost a compensation case in Norway. They were unable to meet the Finanstilsynet’s requirements for sufficient equity before the acquisition of Norwegian Instabank. They were later sentenced to pay over half a billion kroner in compensation to the bank after the takeover attempt failed. Lunar has appealed the case, which means that the judgment is not legally binding yet. Nevertheless, the case has led to new demands for capital from the Danish Finanstilsynet, and Lunar has since then been looking for more money from its own investors, writes the Danish newspaper Børsen. This year they have collected 417 million from investors. In its response to news, Lunar does not refer to this as a justification for the change in the interest rate offer of 4 per cent. In small print at the bottom of their own website, however, they write the following: “The interest rate cut is motivated by the need to use Lunar’s resources more efficiently, deal with increased capital raising costs and address other factors that affect Lunar’s earnings and price structure.” At the same time, the bank has incurred large losses after the acquisition of Instabank failed. Finansavisen has previously reported blood-red figures for the bank. In 2022, they lost NOK 2.3 billion. Lunar: – In accordance with Norwegian law, news has submitted to Lunar bank the criticism from Sæther and the Consumer Council. Lunar’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mats Persson Bergius, did not want to be interviewed for this matter, but responds to the criticism in an e-mail through his communications adviser. LAWFUL: Lunar’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mats Persson Bergius, believes the bank operates within Norwegian law. This despite the fact that the Consumer Council is skeptical. Photo: Lunar He is adamant that the bank operates on the right side of the law after being confronted with Sæther’s interest case. According to him, the interest rate offer is changing because they have not seen enough interest from consumers. He emphasizes that all customers have been notified of the interest rate change two months before it comes into effect, in accordance with Norwegian law. Published 25/07/2024, at 13.04
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