Some suffer from the crisis and loss of income, while others see it as a chance to make more money. Russian banks, many of which are under Western sanctions, appear to be trying to make up for their losses by targeting Russian citizens.
There are rejections of loan payment breaks, manipulations with exchange rates, and higher fees for bank transfers. It's like a complete package of tactics.
Experts say that currently at least 7 million people are struggling to pay off their bank loans. With no increase in real incomes expected in the near future, it's likely that several million more Russians will soon become bad debtors. This is backed by official data from the Central Bank, which shows that the percentage of consumer loans with missed payments rose from 5.3% to 7.5% in just two months.
Ease the financial burden on citizens by reducing their debts. called The government introduced credit breaks, but like past measures in the COVID years, things didn't go as planned. Only 30-50% of applications for loan breaks have been approved, possibly because the conditions are strict – applicants must prove a 30% income drop in 2022 and meet specific loan amount criteria for different types of loans. Even if someone lost their job and can't afford food, they may not qualify for a break if their loan amount doesn't meet the set limits.
Even those who manage to get the sought-after breaks may not be lucky. While they can skip payments for a few months, the interest still applies, meaning the bank will eventually collect its dues.
The International Confederation of Consumer Societies (ConfOP) has asked the Central Bank and the government to reconsider how credit breaks are provided. They suggest setting limits based on the remaining debt rather than the loan amount. They also propose considering the overall family income, not just the individual's financial situation. This idea has received support in the State Duma, but it's likely to face resistance from the banking industry, which argues that these measures will harm banks' financial health and raise the cost of loans.
At the same time, bankers do not forget about their profit for a minute, trying to get it at any cost. One of the most common ways to earn money is by cunning “scams” with exchange rates. Today become especially popular are UnionPay cards issued in Russia. “I got a UnionPay card less than a month ago to pay for tickets and book accommodation abroad,” a client of MTS Bank with the nickname Maxim Burikov shared on social networks. – I chose tickets, tried to pay, a refusal came. Refusal to operate is a common procedure, even if the money is debited, they are immediately returned … They returned it, but 110 thousand rubles less.”
The meaning of bankers’ earnings is simple: air tickets are paid in foreign currency, rubles are debited from the card at the purchase rate set by the bank. When an airline refunds money, the refund is also made in foreign currency. The bank, having received the currency, transfers it to the client’s ruble account, but – attention! – already on sale! Have you noticed that today bankers set buy / sell rates with a huge difference? Here you have those very “lost” 110 thousand. Good profit on a simple operation.
Another popular trick is the increased interest for transferring currency from one bank account to another. If for ruble accounts there is a system of fast payments with minimal commissions, then it is not used for foreign currency accounts. As a result, when the author of these lines decided to transfer 100 euros from the Sberbank account to the Uralsib account, I had to pay 35 euros of commission. And it is impossible to withdraw cash that ended up on accounts after March 1, 2022. This is what bankers use.
Perhaps the furthest went Tinkoff Bank, which last week, without hesitation, announced the introduction of a commission of 12% per annum for servicing foreign currency bank accounts over 1 thousand USD. Commissions have also been introduced at Raiffeisen Bank, Citibank, Bank St. Petersburg, Uralsib, RNKB, and Promsvyazbank. At the same time, the legislation obliges the bank to pay interest on deposits and accounts, which is why negative rates are actually prohibited. Therefore, banks go to tricks: 0.01% – interest and 0.2-0.5% – commission for storage or for operations.
