Credit penance: citizens were allowed to independently limit themselves in loans

Why will this feature only be available in a year?

The State Duma adopted a law allowing Russians, from March 1, 2025, to establish in their credit history a ban on concluding agreements with banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs) to issue loans to them. The document comes into force on March 1, 2025. According to deputies, this regulation should reduce the number of victims of scammers who use social engineering to steal money from citizens’ accounts. Why the law that Russians need so much will take effect only in a year and what risks it contains – in the material of MK.

From March 2025, citizens will be able to independently limit access to credit not only when receiving loans and cash loans, but also when applying for mortgages, car loans, and even loans with state support for education. In order to establish or remove such a self-prohibition, Russians can submit an application any number of times to qualified credit history bureaus (KBKI) through the MFC, regardless of their place of residence or stay, and also do this through the State Services portal. In earlier versions of the bill, deputies even wanted to introduce the ability to issue such self-bans through banks and microfinance organizations, but this provision was not included in the final version of the document. And during the discussion, lawyers and human rights activists pointed out that, just as “bees cannot be against honey,” banks, whose business is to make money on interest on loans, should not participate in imposing self-bans.

In the adopted bill, in order to formalize a self-ban, it will be necessary to use the TIN when writing an application, since the KBKI will check it for compliance with the data specified in the state information system of the Federal Tax Service. The self-ban will be entered into the credit history either on the day it is submitted or the next, depending on whether the citizen made such a request before 10 p.m. or after that hour. The ban will be lifted on the second day after information about it is included in the credit history. And in order to find out whether a citizen has a self-ban on issuing a loan, banks and microfinance organizations, before concluding an agreement with him, will have to request information from all CBCIs about its availability, and refuse the loan if it has not been withdrawn.

And everything in this law seems to be good, but there is a nuance. “The only question that still remains unclear is why the law comes into force only on March 1, 2025, and not in the near future,” says Polina Gusyatnikova, senior managing partner of the law firm PG Partners. — From a technology point of view, there are no obstacles. We have long had a self-prohibition on conducting real estate transactions without the personal presence of the owner, and this has really helped reduce the number of fraudulent real estate transactions.” During the period until the law comes into effect, tens of thousands more Russians may become victims of scammers. However, it is possible that the whole point is the unpreparedness of government agencies for its rapid implementation. “The MFC needs to establish the process of accepting an additional number of citizens and interaction with credit history bureaus,” points out Diana Sork, a lawyer at the International Confederation of Consumer Societies (ConfOP). “It will also take time to prepare standard applications, work out mechanisms for transferring documents, etc.”

There is still debate among experts about how many Russians will be willing to limit themselves in obtaining loans. While there are no statistics, we can only rely on sociology. As recalled by Associate Professor of the Department of Finance for Sustainable Development of the Russian Economic University. Plekhanov Mikhail Gordienko, surveys were conducted, according to which from 10% to 20% of citizens are ready to establish a self-ban on loans. The service is not attractive by default; rather, it will be used by those who have already faced the negative impact of credit bondage.

The fact that the opportunity to limit themselves in loans will be ignored by those who need it most is often cited as the main risk of this law. But there will be other challenges. “Fraudsters will focus their attention on the State Services service, the functionality of which is becoming wider,” says Maxim Fedorov, investment advisor at Fontvielle Investment Company. Now they are actively seeking to obtain personal information to access bank accounts, and now they will also strive to ensure that they have access to the accounts of service users, the expert warned.