More and more buyers no longer go from bank to bank on their own. They look for a "mortgage broker" or "credit consultant" to find an offer, prepare the paperwork and deal with the banks. That can save time and money — but only if you know who you are dealing with. In Bulgaria the activity has a precise legal name — credit intermediary (кредитен посредник) — and strict rules under the Consumer Real Estate Credit Act (ЗКНИП).
This guide explains what a credit intermediary does, how to check that one is allowed to operate, who pays them, and what you should receive in writing before you hand over your documents.
The law defines a credit intermediary as someone who is neither a lender nor a notary, who connects a consumer with a lender and who, for payment, does at least one of the following: presents or offers credit agreements, helps with preparatory or pre-contractual steps (gathering documents, submitting applications), or concludes the agreement on the lender's behalf (§ 1(8) of the Supplementary Provisions of ЗКНИП).
There are two kinds:
One distinction matters a great deal: the estate agent who finds you the home and the credit intermediary who finds you the loan carry out two different activities under two different regimes. An estate agency works as a commercial agent under the Commerce Act (see our guide to signing with an estate agent). Anyone who, for payment, offers you specific mortgage products or prepares your application to the bank is carrying out credit intermediation and must be registered as such.
Acting as a credit intermediary requires entry in a register kept by the Bulgarian National Bank (Art. 51(1) ЗКНИП). A person who is not registered may not use words in its name or advertising that indicate credit intermediation, in Bulgarian or any other language (Art. 51(6)).
The register is public (Art. 53(3)) and is published on the BNB website (Banking Supervision → Credit Intermediaries → Register). It shows:
To be registered, an intermediary needs a commercial registration (or, for an individual, a permanent address in Bulgaria), a good reputation, appropriate knowledge and competence, and one-year professional indemnity insurance with the premium paid in full (Art. 51(2)). Banks can also act as intermediaries for other lenders' products; they notify the BNB and are entered in the same register (Art. 51(7)).
If the "consultant" is not in the register, stop there. If they are, check that the details match the company whose contract you are about to sign.
Sufficiently in advance of providing its services, the intermediary must give you, on paper or another durable medium (Art. 7(1) ЗКНИП):
An untied intermediary that receives commissions from banks must also tell you that you have the right to ask how those commissions differ from one lender to another (Art. 7(2)). Use that right — it tells you whether a recommendation might be influenced by the size of the fee.
In practice there are three models:
The law prohibits none of them, but it requires transparency:
The statutory information itself is provided free of charge (Art. 10).
How to compare APR, the ESIS and fees across two offers is covered in our guide on how to compare two mortgage offers.
Intermediation (finding and preparing a loan) and advice (a personal recommendation as to which loan suits you) are separate services. Advice within the meaning of the Act may be given only by lenders and credit intermediaries (Art. 30(2)).
If an intermediary offers you advice, it must first tell you whether the recommendation is based only on the products of the banks it works with or on a wider range from the market, and what the advice will cost (Art. 30(3)). The recommendation must be based on information about your financial and personal situation and given to you in writing (Art. 31(1) and (5)).
The terms "independent advice" and "independent adviser" may be used only if the intermediary considers a sufficiently large number of loans available on the market and either receives no remuneration for the advice or is remunerated by the majority of lenders on the market (Art. 32). If someone advertises as "independent" but works with two banks, ask how they meet those conditions.
A good intermediary saves you legwork and puts your paperwork in order. Three things stay in your hands, though:
The intermediary must have an internal complaints procedure and reply in writing within 30 days (Art. 63(2)). If it does not reply, or the answer does not satisfy you, you can refer the dispute to the sectoral conciliation committee for financial services at the Consumer Protection Commission (Art. 64).
Supervision is split: the Consumer Protection Commission mainly oversees information and dealings with consumers, while the BNB oversees registration, the requirements intermediaries must meet and the knowledge and competence of their staff (Art. 66). Where the registration conditions are breached, the BNB can remove an intermediary from the register (Art. 55(3)).
A credit intermediary can be a good ally, particularly for first-time buyers or borrowers whose income is harder to document. The law sets clear conditions: registration with the BNB, insurance, written disclosure of fees and commissions, inclusion of the fee in the APR, and strict rules on the word "independent". The checks take ten minutes — and they are worth it for a loan that will run for twenty or thirty years. More on the mortgage process itself is in our guide to mortgage loans in Bulgaria, and you can estimate an indicative instalment with our mortgage calculator.
If you are buying a home and want to talk financing through alongside the specific property — call us or come into the office. We will help you line up the right questions for the bank or the intermediary before you sign anything.
Verified November 2026 against the current text of ЗКНИП. This is general information, not legal or financial advice for a specific case.
