Possible: banks and microfinance organizations will report to bailiffs for their regular collectors

Today, the obligation to send a report on activities to the Federal Bailiff Service is legislated only for professional collection organizations. However, banks, microfinance, insurance, leasing companies and mobile operators have their own collection services. They often use illegal methods of influencing debtors, including “telephone terror.” Therefore, in order to suppress unfair practices, it is advisable to oblige not only licensed debt collectors to report to the FSSP on the return of overdue debts. The State Duma plans to consider such a bill in the second reading in February.

Under the guise of a clerk

Last year, the average level of debt per borrower exceeded one million rubles for the first time. At the same time, of the fifty million Russians who have outstanding obligations to banks and microfinance organizations, half have two or more credits or loans, noted Konstantin Bakharev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, in an interview with Parliamentary Gazette.

At the same time, the volume of overdue debts and those debts that are transferred to professional collectors for execution are growing. Forecast for 2025: according to the results, approximately 1.3 trillion rubles were transferred to collectors that were not paid on time. There is every reason to believe that in the collection process, defaulters will not always meet with a polite approach.

This will also happen because not all professional debt collectors are full-time employees of collection agencies, for which collection is the main activity. Today, banks, microfinance, insurance and leasing companies, as well as mobile operators, have their own collection departments. Although their activities, in accordance with current laws, are controlled by the Federal Bailiff Service, unlike licensed collectors, they do not need to report to the FSSP on the return of overdue debts. Therefore, no one is immune from the use of unfair practices.

Analysis of the identified violations, according to Bakharev, allows us to determine the portrait of the average violator in this area: “This is not some person in a tracksuit who runs after the debtor with a soldering iron or iron — all this remained in the nineties. If this exists today, it applies only to “black collectors” who should be dealt with by law enforcement officers. Today, the average debt collector is an employee of a bank or microfinance organization who does this on a professional level.”

Phone instead of iron

Mostly Russians today complain about collection departments in microfinance organizations. According to statistics, approximately half of the complaints come from collectors from microfinance organizations, another 30 percent from banking services, and approximately 20 percent from professional collection organizations. About 80 percent of all violations involve the use of telephone communications.

What we call “telephone terrorism” by debt collectors. The law clearly states: call only during business hours, no more than once a day, and so on.,” Bakharev clarified.

In fact, calls come both day and night, not once, not five times, but more often. And they worry not only the debtor himself, but also his relatives and work colleagues. At the same time, confidential information about credit history is disclosed.

And we were faced with the fact that it was almost impossible, very difficult, to hold people accountable for this “telephone terrorism.” Therefore, we made changes to the legislation and for the first time created a mechanism for direct interaction between the FSSP, mobile operators and credit history bureaus,” Bakharev clarified.

They will cooperate through a system of interdepartmental electronic interaction. And citizens will have the opportunity to complain through their personal account on the government services portal. This will also speed up the process and make it possible to more effectively and quickly bring those responsible to justice for this type of violation.

Provide a report

As the head of the Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov, explained to Parliamentary Newspaper, there will be more order in the collection services market if credit and microfinance organizations that independently collect debts from people are required to report to bailiffs. The committee recommended that the State Duma adopt such a bill in the second reading.

The procedure, form, timing and frequency of reporting will be determined by the Ministry of Justice in agreement with the Central Bank.

The amendments will protect debtors from incorrect actions and psychological pressure from collectors, early and late calls,” Aksakov emphasized. — Similar control standards now apply to collection agencies. This will significantly reduce cases of boorish behavior and intrusive calls from debt collectors.

The head of the committee did not rule out that, most likely, the bill will be considered in the second reading in February.

source: «Parliamentary newspaper»

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