Loans will be shown at full cost

The deputies softened some of the wording in the bill on changing the calculation of the total cost of the loan (TCP). In particular, the deadline for an unsecured loan has been removed and the ban on advertising the loan rate has been lifted. But the wording that all the actual expenses of the borrower, which the bankers objected to, should be included in the PSK, has been preserved. According to experts, banks will be able to cope with this hindrance by reformatting products.

The Financial Committee of the State Duma recommended for adoption in the second reading a softened version of the amendments to law on consumer credit, concerning the calculation of its full cost, which is important for citizens. The original version called for a five-year term limit on unsecured loans, and in advertising, banks were forbidden to use the interest rate on the loan – only the TIC. These amendments could seriously improve the awareness of citizens about the loan products they take. But by the second reading, the time limit was removed, and the rate was allowed to be used in advertising, although only together with the TIC or its range in the event that the cost of the loan changes depending on the fulfillment of certain conditions.

Market participants recognize the need to change the approach to calculating TIC in the direction of its greater transparency. According to the head of the Association of Electronic Money Market Participants Viktor Dostov, competition in the unsecured consumer lending market is tough, and the product line is limited, so a number of banks “abuse marketing techniques.” “They are trying to hide part of the cost of the loan in other linked products or make the calculation less transparent under different scenarios of the loan life cycle,” he explains. But in its current form, the bill, in his opinion, will not completely solve these problems – banks “probably will try to come up with combined products, bundling loans and other services.”

The difference between the stated rates and the TIC, even with the current version of its accounting, remains quite high, and at the beginning of the year it reached 6 p.p. (see chart). “Kommersant” dated March 10).

Moreover, Anatoly Perfilyev, junior director for banking ratings at Expert RA, notes that the spread is growing, which may be due to lower rates on the market and the desire of banks to maintain the profitability of operations in these conditions. “Indicating PSK in advertising materials will make lending conditions more transparent for borrowers, but we expect that this may lead to a review by banks of their product lines and a change in the structure of additional payments,” the expert adds.

According to lawyers, the amendments to the law on consumer credit provide rather than protection of the rights of borrowers, but more information and visibility of the terms of the contracts. So, according to Elena Gladysheva, managing partner of the RI-consulting law firm, in the future, banks will most likely build advertising campaigns based on the range of TFRs. Roman Yakovenko, investment practice adviser at the BVMP law office, considers the main change to be the obligation of banks to provide an alternative to a loan without additional services for the same amount and term: “But, as today, banks can either increase the interest rate due to the lack of the same insurance, or simply not agree on the issuance of a loan for any reason.

At the same time, Andrey Yemelin, head of the National Financial Market Council (NSFR), clarifies that the key issue that market participants had to the bill has not been resolved. The document says that the bank must include in the PSK all the actual expenses of the borrower, but their definition is not given.

According to Mr. Emelin, the bank may interpret certain expenses of the borrower differently than the regulator, as a result of which the loan may have its TIC recalculated and the threshold value for the corresponding category of loan will be exceeded: “If the Central Bank requires the recalculation of the TIC for the entire category of loans, problems may arise subject to limits.”

Maxim Buylov