On September 1, 2025, the law on the introduction of a cooling-off period for those wishing to apply for a loan comes into force. Also, in some cases, borrowers will have the opportunity not to repay the loan if it was taken under the influence of fraudsters. Izvestia investigated how much this innovation will cost the banking sector.
How it will work
The mechanism of interaction between the Central Bank and law enforcement agencies is already being worked out, said State Duma deputy and head of the Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov. By the fall, banks and MFIs are required to improve their cybersecurity systems and begin to check the borrower more thoroughly.
If the credit institution did not comply with the instructions of the Bank of Russia — it did not check the client, did not provide a cooling—off period, and a criminal case on embezzlement was initiated as a result of the investigation - credit obligations under the new rules should be canceled.
— High protection of borrowers from fraud will help to increase their confidence in and demand for banking products. For the banks themselves, a reduction in fraud cases will lead to a decrease in the proportion of problem loans resulting from the actions of intruders. This will have a positive impact on the quality of their loan portfolios," the VTB press service told Izvestia.
Exclusively through the court
Victims of fraud will have the opportunity not to repay the debt incurred as a result of the actions of fraudsters only if a criminal case is initiated, says Irina Kuznetsova, head of the audit and consulting company Justicom. "Accordingly, if there is no criminal case, then you will still have to pay the loan," she says.
At the same time, in the period before the criminal case is initiated, most likely, you will have to start paying off the debt in the hope of getting these funds back by court order, explains Yulia Makarenko, deputy director of the Banking Development Institute.
— The key barrier is the requirement to have a criminal case initiated. This is not just a formality — a decision to initiate a case is made only if there is sufficient evidence of a crime. In this case, it is necessary to prove a direct link between the actions of fraudsters and the execution of a specific loan. If the borrower simply became a victim of fraud, but issued the loan independently and consciously, there will be no grounds for exemption from payments," business lawyer Max Lowman agrees.
At the same time, according to Irina Kuznetsova, individual citizens may be tempted to use the law for unjustified enrichment. For example, arrange for the transfer of credit funds to some friend in another city with the help of a couple of relatives as dropers, suggests Yulia Makarenko.
Maria Golovina, a lawyer from Rostov-on-Don, a participant in the Expert Support project, believes, on the contrary, that "this will not be a loophole, because the main thing here is checks, a cooling-off period and a criminal case."
The devil is in the details
So, victims of fraudsters get the opportunity not to pay on a loan if it was issued by a bank without following proper procedures, the experts interviewed agree. At the same time, the devil is in the details, says Oleg Kalmanovich, chief analyst at Neomarkets.
— Firstly, the court has the right to block the "caught" money, and no one will use it. Criminal cases can be considered for years. Secondly, who will they try to collect damages from? If it's from intruders, then this is a utopian idea. They will be billed in millions and billions of rubles, depending on the scale of the criminals, but it is almost impossible to get them. And in the case of financial claims against dropers — willing or unwitting intermediaries — cases run the risk of getting bogged down in retaliatory lawsuits, where they may also demand to identify themselves as victims," the analyst comments.
Technical means also help to identify attempts at deception, Max Lowman notes. According to him, modern security systems track which device and IP address the loan was issued from, analyze customer behavior and cash flow.
— If the loan was taken from the borrower's personal device, using his home IP address, and the money received was spent in his usual manner, it will be almost impossible to prove fraud. In addition, the borrower will have to confirm that the financial institution has not conducted proper anti-fraud checks or violated the "cooling off" period. Banks, of course, will actively defend their position, providing evidence of the inspections carried out and compliance with all requirements of the law, — says the lawyer.
Will banks be affected
The volume of loans using fraudulent schemes in the banking system is small, so this decision will not have a clear negative impact on the income of the banking sector, says Dmitry Gritskevich, Head of Banking and Financial Market Analysis at PSB.
— However, the problem of fraud has now reached a serious level. Therefore, such a measure will encourage credit institutions to update their scoring models more often and more quickly identify borrowers who are acting under the influence of fraudsters," he argues.
According to the representative of the PSB, citizens themselves can now minimize their risks, since from March 1, 2025, a self-ban on issuing loans will begin to operate.
Financier Makarenko does not agree with the assessment of the scale of the problem. In her opinion, it is the banks that will suffer from the innovations first of all, as there will be an additional burden on the infrastructure for checking and ensuring the cooling period and the risks of non-repayment of the loan in the event of a criminal case.
is the cost of both software and IT infrastructure, as well as the salary of highly qualified setup and maintenance specialists. At the same time, banks will not go to the courts to refund funds from fraudsters, only if law enforcement agencies catch them and there will generally be something to receive in court. Thus, the innovation will hit profits," she concludes.
Izvestia sent inquiries to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Central Bank, as well as to a number of large banks. The Ministry of Finance redirected Izvestia to the Bank of Russia. The press service of the Bank of Russia did not respond to the request, but offered to review the text of the law on the cooling-off period for loans and borrowings. The other banks and departments had not responded by the time the material was published.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
