Economist Kostikov assessed the connection between last names and bank refusals of loans

“Such conclusions are speculation on concepts at an unprofessional level”

It became known which names and surnames bearers are unlucky with loans: most often Sergei, Elena and Olga, as well as holders of the surnames Smirnov, Popova and Kuznetsova, receive refusals from banks. This data, based on its own research, was provided by the information portal on banks and deposits. Is there any connection between credit “bad luck” and last names and for what reasons can banks actually refuse to issue a loan, MK figured out together with an expert.

The editors of one banking portal, having reported that “the most frequent applicants for a credit card are men with the name Alexander and women with the name Elena,” themselves admitted that this is completely justified, because these names are the most common in our country. Men named Alexander are approved for loans as often as they are denied.

Having conducted their own research, the portal’s analysts also concluded that most often borrowers are clients with original Russian surnames – Ivanov and Ivanova. Next come Kuznetsova, Petrov and Vasiliev. And most often, Russians with the names Smirnov, Popova and Kuznetsova (who is also among the top loan applicants) and those with the names Sergey, Elena and Olga are denied loans.

Does this mean that Smirnov, for example, Sergei or Olga Popova need to start worrying? An expert in the field of finance and credit recalled what banks look at when making a positive decision on issuing a loan.

“When they did such a study, the most common surnames and given names in Russia jumped out of their database,” said Chairman of the Council of LLC Finpotrebsoyuz, Professor, Doctor of Economic Sciences Igor Kostikov, to MK. – Accordingly, the most common surnames are most often denied a loan, because there are the most of them in the bank’s database.

“They also concluded that people most often apply for loans with original Russian surnames.

– This is not surprising, because there are statistically more such surnames in the Russian population. But based on these data, it is impossible to conclude whether Russians or non-Russians take out more loans. As for refusals to issue loans to citizens, now, as is known, the requirements for borrowers have become more stringent, and the Central Bank in this sense has increased the requirements for credit institutions.

– Let us remind you who can be denied a loan?

– They refuse those individuals who, firstly, do not have enough funds to service loans (timely payment of interest under the agreement, or interest along with part of the principal amount of the loan). Secondly, banks look at your credit history so that it does not raise any complaints. Now the citizen himself can check it through the State Services portal. If you do not agree with something in your credit history, you can submit an application to change some information in it.

– Do banks still check the applicant’s income based on the provided employment certificate?

– Now banks have the opportunity to obtain information about the applicant’s income directly from the tax office. In general, a certificate from work is no longer needed. Based on this, they determine creditworthiness and see whether a person can service loans from this income or not.

As for the “study” with last names, I don’t see any connection between loan denials and first names. This is unprofessional statistics, because it was necessary to make allowances for surnames that are often found in Russia. They did not do this, therefore, we can say that these are people who speculate on some concepts on an unprofessional level.