Credit penal battalion

The court first stood up for debtors on loans

The Supreme Court of Bashkortostan has made a decision that may become a precedent for thousands of bank customers. The verdict was in favor of the borrower who risked to remain as a result of the lawsuit filed by the bank without an apartment received on a mortgage. The details and consequences of the court decision were found by The New Times

Ufa "My Bank. Mortgage ”(earlier - OJSC“ Bashekonbank ”) unilaterally increased three times a year to the borrower of the rate on the previously issued mortgage loan (the name of the borrower and the loan amount are known to the New Times, however, the borrower is categorically against the publication of these data in the press). And when the client was not able to pay on the increased interest and extinguish the accumulated fines, the bank filed a lawsuit in the district court of the city of Ufa on the collection of property, that is, on the departure from the borrower of the mortgage apartment. In the court of first instance, the bank won the lawsuit. After which numerous appeals followed - it came to the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan. The verdict made at his meeting on March 31 in case No. 44g-62/10 turned out to be truly sensational: the court, unlike all other instances, recognized the bank’s claim against the borrower unreasonable. “As far as I know, this is the first such case in the practice of Russian courts of general jurisdiction,” said the Ufa lawyer Fedor Ponomarev, who defended the unlucky client, said the new times. The lawyer believes that the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court (you) dated March 2, 2010, which the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan, played a decisive role in this judicial victory.

The resolutionary part of the verdict says you: “A credit institution has no right to unilaterally change interest rates on loans, deposits (deposits), commission and validity of these agreements with customers.” The same decision was established by other protective measures in favor of the finished borrowers. Their general meaning is this: you can take a penalty registered in the contract for the delay, but it is impossible to increase their size exponentially by unauthorized fines.

A million debtors
28-year-old Peter and his wife are typical representatives of Office Plankton. They live in a modest apartment on the outskirts of Moscow, there are no children. But there is overdue debt. “We both worked in construction companies,” Peter cigares nervously. - The industry was then on the rise, the salaries are high and “white”. Banks began to circle around us: they called, offered loans. And we are a young family: we wanted a car, we thought about children. In 2007, they decided. They took three loans, I - two, spouse - one. A total of 1 million 100 thousand rubles, a total monthly payment of 45 thousand rubles. But then we have two salaries amounted to more than 90 thousand rubles “clean”. We thought we would handle it. The car was bought for 800 thousand rubles. "

Further - the crisis, the construction companies “sprinkled” one after another. In 2008, at first they fired Peter, then his wife. Since then, both have no permanent work, interrupted by random earnings. “The banks immediately brutally. At first, penalties were 200 rubles a day, then 500 each, and then reached 1000 rubles daily, ”Peter recalls. - The phone was cut off, called even at night, threatened. “Collectors” came to his wife - a sports look, young people with the words: “Give a loan, a bitch, otherwise I’ll send it to the panel.”

"

The banks immediately brutally. The phone was cut off to us

They called even at night, threatened. They came to his wife

"Collectors" - sports views young people

With the words: "Give a loan, bitch, otherwise we’ll send it to the panel"

"

Then the bailiffs arrested the car to repay the loan. But the young family did not become easier: the size of the debt, along with the fines for the delay, they counted such that the cost of the car was not enough for half. “Now we must pay 25 thousand rubles a month on a loan, and the total income with us barely reach 30 thousand rubles. We have no money for lawyers - to sue with banks. In order not to select the latter - an apartment, sometimes we are hungry for several days. And pay two more years ... "

There are many such as Peter. According to the Bank of Russia, the overdue debt of individuals at the beginning of May amounted to 259.2 billion rubles. With an average loan amount for an individual of 250 thousand rubles (assessment of the Ministry of Economic Development), it is easy to calculate that the total number of “fines” is more than 1 million people. It turns out a sort of credit penal battalion.

Penalties with small font
Despite all the arguments of the government about the end of the crisis, the number of borrowers who were not able to pay with banks does not decrease. Moreover: the share of overdue debts in the total volume of loans of individuals is growing (see schedule in the fields). It has almost reached the height of the crisis: according to the Bank of Russia, as of May 1, 2010 it was 7.38%, while at the peak of the crisis, as of January 1, 2009 - 7.49%. At the same time, banks almost do not give new loans to individuals, fearing the further growth of “bad” debts - after all, they can take a license for them.

Moreover, “bad” debts are by no means the fault of negligent borrowers. Banks also have something to criticize, according to the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection (Rospotrebnadzor). According to them, the defenders of consumer rights have known numerous cases when credit organizations accrued Dragon fines, for example, due to the fact that the day of payment fell on the holiday and the bank did not work. Or due to the fact that the money did not have time to “fall” on the expense in time due to the long passage between the funds between the bank’s branches or due to the unexpectedly introduced commission ... In addition, with the same loan parameters (type, term and sum), the amount of the fine for the same delay in different banks may differ even even at times, but literally by an order of magnitude. Because there is no law that clearly regulates the process of calculating bank fines in Russia: this is the subject of the contract between the bank and the borrower. And in the contract - small print - banks sometimes wrote a lot in their favor. For example, the ability to unilaterally change the interest rate, the right to introduce an additional commission on the loan already issued or progressively increase the penalty for the delay.

You are calling you
Until recently, the situation for borrowers in their court disputes with banks was almost hopeless: I did not pay on time - it was to blame, I did not read the lines typed in small print in the contract - your problems ... But literally recently the situation began to change in favor of borrowers. On March 18, 2010, the Law “On Amendments to Article 29 of the Federal Law“ On Banks and Banking Activities ”, which prohibits banks, unilaterally change the parameters of the loans issued. True, this law does not have this retroactive force, the amendments concern only loans issued after March 18, 2010. And if the borrower has finished before he is still under the blow. Well, a little earlier, March 2, a decision was made by the Presidium of you, which was mentioned above. What made the authorities change the “rules of the game” in favor of bank customers? Rospotrebnadzor experts believe that the Central Bank simply could no longer help but react to a tremendous flow of complaints from all over the country from people who were not in the role of violators of the law not by their own evil will, but as a result of objective, as a rule, circumstances caused by the crisis: loss of work, reduction of salaries ... According to experts, the political factor could play their role in addition to the fines in addition to the rest of the time This is also an active electorate. These are citizens at the most flowering (in terms of economic activity) age that can earn good money: they simply would not give another loan. Social tension in their environment in the pre -election period does not need the authorities.

Meanwhile, the new judicial practice did not delight bankers. “The decision of the Presidium on penalties for delay will negatively affect the lending market, which is still experiencing the consequences of the crisis,” said Valery Torkhov, deputy chairman of the board of Avangard Bank. - As a result, banks will be forced to further tighten the criteria for the selection of borrowers, which will reduce the volume of lending. In fact, we can talk about direct opposition to efforts aimed at restoring the lending market, in particular, mortgage. ” Now, when “non -return” is growing, the removal of liability from borrowers for the fulfillment of obligations only exacerbates the situation, Torkhov believes. However, consumer defenders are afraid that banks will find a bypass path to knocking out debts. As you know, in Russia there is no precedent law, a lawyer from the Moscow region Igor Ozersky recalls. Therefore, to recover the debts and arrest of property of borrowers, banks appeal to the courts of general jurisdiction, for which you are not formally a decree. And they achieve the relevant decisions there. It is clear that a particularly persistent and legally saved participant in the “credit penal battalion” can, of course, get to you. But here is the question “on the backfill”: what will happen faster: the borrower’s case will be in you or the bailiffs with the executive sheet of the court of general jurisdiction in his hands will be broken into the house? Given the Russian law enforcement practice, there is no doubt that the bailiffs will be more quick.