It was called "Eureka," but the name was misleading. In this case the Greek expression for "I found" meant a somewhat particular credit card. Between September 2007 and October 2009, around 600 Fiditalia customers found it in their pockets without ever requesting it. The consumer association Adoc reported the case to the Antitrust, which sent the finance company of the Societé Général group a fine of 180 thousand euros.
It all started with loan agreements called "Multiconto", the only instruments used by Fiditalia between the early 2000s and October 2009 for the marketing of its services. It is a pity that the company did not inform its customers of the fact that "the signing of the contract entailed the request for the granting of an open-ended revolving credit line - as stated in the Authority's weekly bulletin - which can also be used with a magnetic card". Eureka, in fact, "characterized by much more onerous conditions than those of the loan itself".
Multi-account contracts also provided for the possibility of taking out insurance which guaranteed coverage against the risks of death, incapacity for work or invalidity. The policy premium was proportional to the amount of the loan. Commendable initiative, which however entailed costs for consumers. And unfortunately Fiditalia forgot to point out that the service was optional. According to the Antitrust, these unfair commercial practices deserve an administrative fine of 250 thousand euros. But in the end it was decided to drop to 180 thousand, because the company's economic conditions are not positive. In 2009 its balance sheet was at a loss of about 61 million euros. (cm)
