The authorities have decided to extend this form of borrower support until the end of the year
In Russia, credit holidays will be extended until December 31, 2023, until a permanent law is adopted. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the financial market, announced this decision. The fact is that on March 31, the period expires during which individuals, individual entrepreneurs and representatives of small and medium-sized businesses have the right to apply to a creditor for a credit holiday for contracts concluded before March 1, 2022.
Why the deputies decided to extend the measures taken back in the “atikoid” times, and not adopt a separate law, and how effectively the mechanism of credit holidays works — in the material of MK.
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Credit holidays as an anti-crisis measure to support borrowers appeared in Russia in 2020 during the pandemic. It was then about providing benefits for Russians on all types of loans, and not just on housing loans, as was the case before. Recall that the law on mortgage holidays came into force on July 31, 2019, that is, almost six months before the start of the story of the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, in our country, there is a benefit for issuing credit holidays for mobilized citizens and members of their families: Russians called up to participate in a special operation and their relatives can apply for it from September 21, 2022 to December 31, 2023.
The State Duma previously wanted to give all citizens the right to issue credit holidays on an ongoing basis. A bill to this effect was introduced in the lower house of parliament in September 2022 and even passed the first reading. But, nevertheless, until March 31, 2023, they could not accept it. “If we turn to Law 106-FZ, which is being amended, then Part 5 of Article 8 says: “The Government of the Russian Federation has the right to extend the deadline until which the borrower has the right to apply to the lender with a request to change the terms of the loan agreement,” that is the period when the borrower can apply for a holiday. The Ministry of Finance did not prepare a draft government decree in a timely manner, — Anatoly Aksakov commented on the situation. — As a result, deputies of the State Duma, realizing that we have borrowers in need of credit holidays, are forced at the last moment to make enormous efforts to protect borrowers at the level of the law. The parliamentarian added that at the moment the amendments are still being agreed.
The measure discussed by the deputies, if we turn to the statistics of the Bank of Russia, is very necessary for the citizens of our country. Most of the mobilized took advantage of credit holidays. According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated March 28, SVO participants and their families received 180,000 credit holidays in the amount of 69.3 billion rubles, that is, an average of 385,000 rubles of credit money falls on a person who received a benefit. Recall that on November 4, 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced that 318 thousand citizens were called up as part of partial mobilization.
At the same time, non-mobilized citizens also arranged credit holidays during the past year. Thus, according to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in March-June 2022 (more recent data is not yet available), compatriots submitted 1.2 million applications for loan restructuring, including credit holidays, which the government introduced on March 22. It is curious that the total number of those in need of benefits turned out to be half as much as in the first four months of the pandemic. During this period, banks approved 82.6 thousand applications for loan holidays for a total amount of 38.3 billion rubles and 4 thousand applications for mortgage holidays for 13.5 billion rubles. “Credit holidays mitigate the negative effects of shocks, reduce the likelihood of a credit crisis, help maintain social stability, — considers the head of the analytical department of BKF-Bank Maxim Osadchiy. — Since powerful shocks «arrive» recent years in non-stop mode — pandemic, sanctions, mobilization, etc., then the law on credit holidays should not be temporary, but permanent.”
At the same time, there is an opinion that the authorities are not in a hurry to pass this bill, because they want to accumulate more statistics on its effectiveness. Thus, according to Polina Gusyatnikova, Senior Managing Partner at PG Partners Law Firm, it has not yet been determined whether the law is needed on a permanent basis or not. “Initially, it was an anti-crisis measure that worked well at a certain moment, but is it needed globally — this should be calculated by other specialists, », — sure expert. Purely at the legal level, from the position of citizens, credit holidays can only be perceived positively, because they really helped those who suddenly found themselves in a difficult situation. But this is not a lifesaver at all; for those who cannot pay their debts in principle: no credit holidays will help them, especially for 6 months, as the bill provides.
There is a chance that the law will be adopted before the end of the year, all the more legislators themselves talk about it, although, in fact, it does not matter whether the government permanently extends this measure or passes a law. The result will be the same, the lawyer pointed out.