Get it, pay it off: banks impose insurance with an 18-fold mark-up
Banks sell life, health and financial risk insurance to borrowers with a margin of 18 times. This follows from the data of the Financial Commissioner's Service, which was reviewed by Izvestia. Such products are sold in a package with consumer loans. CNGB, Metallinvestbank, RSHB, and PSB have cases of multiple overestimation of the real price of policies. Additional services are also being imposed, although this has been prohibited by law since 2025. The number of complaints from citizens about the actions of banks increased by 40% in the first half of the year. Experts advocate tougher sanctions. How to deal with clients in such cases is described in the Izvestia article.
Can banks sell additional services with a loan
Large banks sell life, health and financial risk insurance programs to Russians at a price 3-18 times higher than their real value. This is stated in the materials of the financial ombudsman on unacceptable practices for the second quarter of 2025. Such products are often issued together with a consumer loan.
The Financial Commissioner's materials provide examples. Thus, when concluding a loan agreement, Ak Bars Bank connected the borrower to a similar program worth 490 thousand rubles. At the same time, the financial organization transferred only 43.6 thousand rubles to the insurer (to pay for this policy). The client of the CNGB (Surgutneftegazbank JSC) paid 905 thousand rubles for joining the collective insurance program at the actual cost of 60.4 thousand rubles. A similar practice was recorded in JSCB Metallinvestbank (61.1 thousand versus 3.3 thousand). Similar cases were identified in RSHB, PSB and others.
Finombudsman pointed out to the banks that the insurance fee was disproportionate — the cost was several times higher than the actual price.
Among the unacceptable practices, there is also a tendency to purchase the services of third parties. In particular, motorists were forced to provide technical support, evacuation, and minor repairs costing from 100 to 360 thousand rubles. If the client decided that he had changed his mind and asked for a refund, he was refused, referring to the fact that the service was provided at the time of signing the contract. For example, a borrower of Alfa-bank faced such a situation, who purchased additional services for 360.2 thousand rubles. A similar practice has been recorded in Loko Bank and OTP Bank.
In such cases, the companies providing services are not mentioned in the contract with the bank that sold the package. As a result, the lender refuses the borrower's request to refund the money for the product, stating that he is not a party to that transaction, now he is responsible only for the loan. For example, a VTB client faced a similar situation. This violates the rights of consumers — they have the right to a refund for additional services if they are improperly processed under the law "On Consumer Credit (Loan)," according to the financial ombudsman service.
The most frequent cases remain when banks sell services for managing the interest rate on a loan, in other words, to reduce it. The cost of the option sometimes costs the client from 100 thousand rubles and above, follows from the materials of the service.
"In January–June 2025, the number of complaints against banks increased by 40% compared to the same period last year, to 1,400 complaints,— Financial Commissioner Svetlana Maksimova told Izvestia.
According to her, the increase in complaints is caused, among other things, by an increase in the number of disputes related to fraudulent actions against bank customers.
Is it possible to return the purchased insurance or additional services
Izvestia asked the major banks and the mentioned players about similar practices and pricing for additional services. Gazprombank stated that they had not received any letters from the finombudsman. Alfa-Bank reported that it had not received any service decisions in 2025 obliging it to meet consumer requirements. They added that the number of requests regarding additional services has halved over the past year.
In general, banks say that they offer additional options to customers, meeting all requirements.
The All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS) does not receive data on bank sales, so it does not know about the practices of selling insurance products with a margin, Gleb Yakovlev, vice president of the association, told Izvestia. According to him, the client often has little time to choose insurance terms when issuing a loan. But for today, the measures provided for by law are sufficient, he believes. For example, since the beginning of autumn, automatic consents to additional services have been prohibited — the client confirms his decision only in writing, Gleb Yakovlev recalled.
Starting from September 1, 2025, financial organizations no longer have the right to impose additional services without the client's separate consent. Russians can opt out of such options and demand a refund. The service provider must do this within three business days.
The increase in complaints does not always reflect the current market situation, the Bank of Russia told Izvestia. Appeals to the financial ombudsman are related to property disputes, for example, on insurance indemnity payments under contracts concluded in the past, the regulator added. The service's materials contain contracts concluded in certain periods of 2023 and 2024, but there are also appeals for transactions this year.
The Central Bank noted that earlier financial organizations bypassed the "cooling off period" in the car loan market — services were considered provided immediately upon sale and were not subject to refund. The inspections prompted the players to adopt a memorandum on the principles of fair lending. This has significantly reduced the number of claims. In 2025, the number of complaints about the imposition of additional services in lending has halved, the regulator said. Nevertheless, in January–August of this year there were 693 of them.
Banks are required to inform borrowers about additional services, the cooling-off period for rejecting them, and the repayment of part of the insurance premium in case of early repayment of the loan, the Central Bank recalled.
The cooling—off period is the time during which the customer can discard the purchased product. In the insurance industry, it is usually 14 days, for credit insurance — 30. In the Russian Federation, from September 1, 2025, there is a cooling—off period for consumer loans, microloans and credit cards: four hours for amounts from 50 to 200 thousand rubles, 48 hours for amounts over 200 thousand rubles.
How to deal with unacceptable practices
It is no secret that borrowers agree to additional services in order to obtain a loan, said Elman Mehdiyev, CEO of the Association for the Development of Financial Literacy. According to him, it is for such cases that the cooling period has been introduced.
The high cost of insurance with its low actual premium is a typical practice, said Alla Khrapunova, deputy head of the ONF project For Borrowers' Rights. At the same time, in her opinion, the increase in the number of complaints rather reflects an increase in the legal literacy of citizens. Previously, many people did not know that a dispute could be settled through a finombudsman.
— The law provides for a cooling-off period for all additional services, but not all consumers have time to realize that they have purchased an unnecessary product. This is a serious problem," the expert believes.
In her opinion, it can be solved by tightening financial sanctions. The authorities have long been discussing raising fines for banks to 1% of the capital.
In addition, since last year, the buyer can demand a refund from the bank through which the service was sold. Such changes are effective, as it is the threat of the ruble that can affect creditors, said Alla Khrapunova.
It is important for consumers to remember about the right to challenge, the expert notes. First, you should send a claim to the company that is the actual seller of the service, then to the bank through which it was issued. In case of their refusal, contact the Central Bank and the financial ombudsman. The expert also recommends that you carefully read all the documents before signing.
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