Analyst Belyaev: “You shouldn’t portray debtors as innocent victims, and debtors as highway bandits.”
For collection agencies, a new and, it seems, not the most pleasant reality is coming. From February 1, amendments to the Federal Law will come into force, which will maximally regulate the methods of direct interaction of debt collectors with individuals who have overdue debts to banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs). Or rather, they narrow it down to certain boundaries. Is this good or bad, right or wrong — the experts interviewed by MK disagreed on this matter.
Photo: Alexey Merinov < span itemprop="height" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/QuantitativeValue">
The main thing is that now communication between collectors and borrowers is limited to strict time frames: on weekdays — from 8 to 22 o'clock, on weekends and holidays — from 9 to 20 o'clock; personal visits — no more than once a week; calls — no more than once a day, no more than twice a week and no more than eight times a month. Other innovations are more technical in nature. In accordance with one of them, collectors received the right to use an automated intelligent agent, and calls will be recorded, and the debtor can switch to communicating with a live person. In addition, professional collectors can send text, telegraph, voice and other messages over the public communications network or through State Services.
Another bad news for collectors, or more precisely, some part of them: the Ministry of Justice has submitted for public discussion a presidential decree that introduces a ban on the work of agencies established by foreigners from unfriendly states or under foreign control. The project, as the department notes in the explanatory note, “is aimed at preventing threats to the economic and national security of the Russian Federation,” at minimizing transfers of funds outside the Russian Federation, as well as at preventing the collection of personal data of Russian citizens.
This is not the first day that clouds have been gathering over the Institute of Professional Collectors. For example, in May 2023, the head of the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) Dmitry Aristov complained that today these organizations, instead of working with debtors, are trying to carry out collections at the expense of bailiffs (up to 80% of their income came from the activities of the FSSP), that “often their activities are on the verge of crimes.» Summary: there is no point in their existence. The question of abolishing the institution of collectors in Russia is justified, although in world practice it fulfills a certain mission, said, in turn, the head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov.
Meanwhile, the figures associated with collection practices look quite impressive. According to NAPKA (National Association of Professional Collection Agencies), in the third quarter of 2023, banks sold overdue debts of citizens worth 75 billion rubles to collectors, which is 97.1% of all bank overdue debts put up for sale. Typically, banks sell debts if the loan amount is above 70 thousand rubles. But here everything is quite individual, since each bank has its own staff of lawyers who determine the fate of the debt specifically for a particular borrower.
“It is obvious that collection activities need to be conducted in a civilized manner,” says Dmitry Yanin, Chairman of the Board of the International Confederation of Consumer Societies (ConfOP). – This is not a racket of the 1990s with bits and soldering irons — it is necessary to take into account the interests of the borrower, who may have overestimated his income prospects, accumulated loans and is now unable to pay them. Debt collection must be carried out in accordance with international standards, which we are now trying to get closer to. The debtor’s right to refuse frequent communication with the collector, the right to protection from threats — these points require enshrinement in legislation.”
Financial analyst Mikhail Belyaev looks at things differently. According to him, the institution of collectors is not useful, and there is no need to present debtors as innocent victims, and debt collectors as almost highway bandits. Many borrowers, MK’s interlocutor argues, act openly in bad faith, in particular, by applying for loans using falsified documents and then evading repayment of the debt. The state constantly infringes on the rights of collectors, leaving them with essentially the only option — to morally influence debtors and conduct soul-saving conversations. Moreover, from February 1 — no more than once a week in case of a face-to-face meeting.
“As for the ban on the work of collection agencies established by foreigners from unfriendly states, this measure is clearly excessive,” believes Belyaev. – Firstly, there are only a few such organizations, and secondly, they do not collect data on Russians. And, since they are not a settlement center, they do not keep large sums of money: settlements with the debtor are always carried out by the bank. Accordingly, collectors do not contribute to the leakage of funds abroad.”
We received a comment from NAPCA that said that the association “consistently supports the measures taken by the state aimed at establishing order in the professional collection industry.” Accordingly, “in the event of publication and entry into force of new regulatory legal acts… their implementation will be immediately organized.” “We have no persons in any way connected with other states, neither among the owners nor among the employees,” a NAPCA representative separately noted.