Methodical recommendations
The procedure for the application to the Bank of Lithuania and the investigation of disputes at the Bank of Lithuania is established by the Description of the procedure for the investigation of disputes between consumers and financial market participants.
These methodical recommendations provide advice on the actions to ensure that a dispute between you and a financial market participant is investigated smoothly.
I. IMPORTANT TO KNOW
1. In order to exercise your right to apply to the Bank of Lithuania, make sure that there are no circumstances due to which the investigation of the dispute at the Bank of Lithuania may be impossible. The dispute may be investigated only in the case all conditions indicated in paragraph 25 of the Description of the procedure for the investigation of disputes between consumers and financial market participants are present.
2. Make certain that you are a consumer. A natural person, whose personal, family or household needs are targeted by the financial service, is considered to be a consumer. Professional customers are not considered to be consumers.
3. Make sure that the dispute with the financial market participant arises from the financial service contract or is related to it. The Bank of Lithuania investigates the disputes between consumers and financial market participants in the areas of insurance, lending, payments and investment, as well as the disputes related to accounts with credit institutions, deposits and other financial services.
4. Pay attention to the fact that the decision of the Bank of Lithuania has a recommendation nature, it is not obligatory either to you or to the financial market participant. The consumer and the financial market participant do not loose the right to apply to the court for the settlement of the dispute.
II. APPLICATION FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF A DISPUTE
5. If a dispute arose between you and a financial market participant, you should at first apply to the financial market participant in writing and indicate the circumstances of the dispute and your demand. Retain copies of your application and its annexes. You may find the addresses of financial market participants on the Bank of Lithuania website.
6. If the financial market participant took a decision concerning your application that does not satisfy you or you did not receive the financial market participant’s reply within 30 calendar days from the date of your application, you acquire the right to apply to the Bank of Lithuania for the investigation of the dispute. You can exercise this right only within 3 months from the end of circumstances indicated in the first sentence of this paragraph.
7. Your right to apply to the Bank of Lithuania does not preclude your right to apply to the court, therefore, you may apply to the court without applying to the Bank of Lithuania.
8. When applying to the Bank of Lithuania, please submit the completed Consumer Application Form or the original of the application that conforms to the requirements of paragraph 19 of the Description of the procedure for the investigation of disputes between consumers and financial market participants. Consumer application must be completed in the official language of the state. The copies of your letter to the financial market participant and its annexes and the copies of the financial market participant’s reply and its annexes (if such reply and annexes were presented to you) must be enclosed with the application. If you think that you can provide additional written explanations to the Bank of Lithuania, please do not hesitate to do that. All information submitted by you is significant for the settlement of the dispute. If you think that the financial market participant has other documents important for the investigation of the dispute, you have the right to ask the Bank of Lithuania to request them from the financial market participant by indicating the grounds based on which you think that the financial market participant has this evidence and the circumstances that the said document may substantiate.
III. INVESTIGATION OF THE DISPUTE
9. The Bank of Lithuania investigates disputes between consumers and financial market participants free of charge.
10. The dispute between the financial market participant and the consumer is investigated in writing on the basis of evidence presented by the parties of the dispute. The Bank of Lithuania investigates the dispute within 2 months from the consumer’s application; in special cases, taking into consideration the complexity of a dispute, the Bank of Lithuania may extend this term by 2 months. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Bank of Lithuania may suspend the investigation of the dispute in accordance with the procedure established by legal acts.
11. The Bank of Lithuania investigates the dispute following the adversary principle. This means that the parties of the dispute must prove the circumstances, which they use as the grounds for their demands or explanations. If additional evidence or explanations are required, the Bank of Lithuania may request you or the financial market participant to provide them within the term established by the Bank of Lithuania. After making an assessment that your demands or a part of them are justified, the Bank of Lithuania may propose to you and the financial market participant to reach an agreement. If possible, the Bank of Lithuania proposes the ways of such agreement. The agreement must be made in writing and signed by you and the financial market participants, it is obligatory to comply with it.
12. In case of a failure to settle the dispute between you and the financial market participant by amicable agreement, the Bank of Lithuania takes a decision to satisfy your demands, to satisfy your demands in part or, if these demands are unsubstantiated or unproved, to reject them.
13. The decision of the Bank of Lithuania does not forfeit your right to apply to the court concerning the same dispute in accordance with the procedure established by legal acts.
