Defenseless instinct: banks sell insurance with a margin of up to 25 times
Some banks still sell insurance with excessively high fees — in some cases, the margin reaches 25 times the size, Izvestia found out. We are talking about life insurance and accident and illness insurance policies issued by borrowers. The financial commissioner's service told about such cases — the client can make a payment of 300 thousand rubles, but only 12 thousand rubles are transferred to the insurer for real protection. The rest is the commission of the credit institution. Such an extra charge does not violate the law, but banks must correctly inform the client, which is not always the case. The authorities have been fighting this for a long time. Is it possible to refund money for such insurance and why the margins do not go away from the market dozens of times? — in the Izvestia article.
Banks inflate the price of insurance — why is it not a violation of the law
There are still cases on the market when a bank charges a significantly inflated commission when selling insurance to a borrower, the financial officer's office told Izvestia. We are mainly talking about life insurance or accident and disease insurance policies.
So, a person can pay 300 thousand rubles for the service, and only 12 thousand rubles are transferred to the insurer for registration of protection, the rest is the commission of the credit institution, the service said. Moreover, it is often difficult to return it if you cancel the policy without contacting a financial commissioner.
The People's Front also met with 20-fold or more bank margins this year. And this is not an isolated case, people continue to face disproportionate fees, said Alexandra Pozharskaya, deputy project manager of the Popular Front for Borrowers' Rights and the Moshelovka platform.
She explained: the main problem for the client is that the protection is calculated precisely from the amount that the insurance company receives. Therefore, even if the bank's commission is excessively high, in the event of an insured event, the policy will help cover only a small portion of the debt owed to the bank. That is, the consumer value of the product is lost.
The practice of increased margins in the sale of insurance is found among individual market participants, these are not mass cases, the press service of the Central Bank told Izvestia. A large commission does not mean that the bank is violating the law. However, the client must be fully and reliably informed about the cost of insurance, the remuneration of the credit institution and other conditions, including the impact on the cost of the loan, the regulator stressed.
They recalled that in Russia there is a law from October 2023, which is aimed at increasing the transparency of insurance conditions. The company that sells the policy to the client is obliged to inform him how much of the amount goes to the coverage itself.
It is precisely this full-fledged information that the client sometimes does not receive, Anna, a Muscovite, told Izvestia. She shared that recently, together with her husband, she applied for a consumer loan for repairs at one of the largest Russian banks. There, the couple approved a loan for 2.5 million rubles, but were informed that they were ready to provide a preferential rate of 13% only when applying for insurance for 585 thousand rubles, which would be included in the body of the debt. At the same time, they refused to specify in advance the amount of the credit institution's commission and how much it would cost for the protection itself.
Izvestia contacted the largest Russian banks with a question about how much the commission is there and whether borrowers are informed about the margin. Sberbank reported that the bank's commission on mortgage life insurance programs takes a minimal share of the total cost of the policy and depends on the sales channel. VTB added that insurance when applying for consumer loans in VTB is voluntary. Commissions for such products correspond to the general level, and for a number of offers they are even below market values, the press service noted.
How the authorities react
The practice of excessively high bank fees when selling insurance has been on the market for many years. In 2025, Izvestia wrote that large credit institutions offer Russians life, health and financial risk insurance programs at a price 3-18 times higher than their real value.
On average, the commission on credit life insurance with a one-time premium payment for 2025 was 91%, said Olga Basova, Senior Director for Ratings of insurance and investment companies at Expert RA agency. The Savings Bank also drew attention to the level of payments. If it is low, it indicates weak insurance coverage of the policy, a wide list of exceptions or grounds for refusal.
Regulation in this area has been tightening for several years, but it has not completely solved the problem yet, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Global. The Bank of Russia has introduced a mandatory key information document (CID) on voluntary insurance in lending, which should specify the main characteristics of the policy. The borrower must also be shown the full cost of insurance. The Central Bank is also struggling with the imposition of additional services. However, this segment is still not fully transparent to consumers.
The problem persists because commission income is very attractive to banks, especially against the background of falling profits from loans, explained Vladimir Chernov. At the same time, the client, at the time of receiving the loan, first of all thinks about whether the money will be approved for him and what the rate will be, rather than analyzing the price structure of the insurance product.
Moreover, many lenders still make registration of additional services a prerequisite for approving a loan at a lower interest rate, hoping to make additional profits and partially compensate for credit risks, said financial adviser and founder Rodin.Capital Alexey Rodin.
In order for borrowers to avoid bank fees, the authorities offered various solutions, Gleb Yakovlev, vice-president of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS), recalled. According to him, one of the most effective was the initiative of the FAS of Russia, which allowed borrowers to bring to the bank the policies of those insurance companies that do not pay the commission. And the credit institution is obliged to accept such insurance without worsening the loan conditions. However, the Russians have not started to massively use this opportunity.
How to refund money for insurance
When approving a loan, the borrower should not automatically agree to insurance in the first place, warned Vladimir Chernov. It's worth requesting the full cost structure, KID. And if the commission is clearly too high, then provide a policy from another insurer.
In addition, starting in 2024, the "cooling—off period" for voluntary insurance has been extended to 30 days - during this period, the client has the right to cancel the service and demand a full refund, Alexandra Pozharskaya from the Popular Front reminded.
You can also get back the insurance premium in case of early repayment of the loan, the Central Bank added. In this case, the refund amount will be proportional to the time remaining until the end of the policy. If in this scenario the bank does not want to pay the commission, then you can contact the credit institution with an official request. And in case of refusal — to the financial commissioner, the Central Bank said. Practice shows that in such cases it is possible to refund the commission in an amount proportional to the remaining term of the policy.
At the same time, the borrower should immediately collect the documents, advised Alexandra Pozharskaya. For example, a contract and statement where the payment structure is visible will greatly simplify the proceedings.
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