State Duma: it is proposed to extend the assistance program for foreign currency mortgage borrowers

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The vast majority of housing loans are provided in rubles. However, there is a so-called foreign currency mortgage. After the collapse of the ruble in 2014–2015, citizens developed a biased attitude towards the method of lending. It is believed that obtaining a foreign currency mortgage is associated with increased risks. However, the rule is not always relevant.

Attention

For some people, a foreign currency mortgage can be a way to save money. The main thing is to choose a service wisely and study its features.

The essence of foreign currency mortgages and its features

A foreign currency mortgage is a targeted loan issued for the purchase of housing. However, the amount is provided not in state, but in foreign currency. It can be:

Attention! If you have any questions, you can chat for free with a lawyer at the bottom of the screen or call Moscow; Saint Petersburg; Free call for all of Russia.

• dollars;
• Euro;
• pounds sterling;
• francs;
• other currency.

In Russia, loans provided in the first two monetary units from the above list are popular. Finding other offers is problematic. The difference in monetary units is the only difference between currency and classic mortgages. In fact, the offer is a standard method of lending. You will not have to obtain additional certificates, permits or documents. Cooperation in obtaining foreign currency mortgages is carried out on standard terms.

For your information

People prefer to get foreign currency mortgages due to savings. Due to the fact that the method of housing lending is associated with increased risks, the rate on offer is lower. The figure is 8 - 11% per annum. Additionally, borrowers are attracted by a more favorable loan term. On average, the repayment period for a foreign currency mortgage is 25 years.

The main advantages and disadvantages of foreign currency mortgages

Before the currency crisis, people were willing to take advantage of the offer. The popularity of the service was associated with the benefits that came with obtaining a mortgage loan in a foreign currency. The advantages of using the offer have remained to this day. By receiving a foreign currency mortgage, you will encounter the following advantages:

• The interest rate on offer is lower than on classic ruble loans;
• if the ruble starts to rise, the monthly payment will decrease, and the client will be able to save money;
• The loan is issued for a long period, which allows you to calculate the monthly payment;
• the circulation and storage of currency in the Russian Federation is not controlled, and a citizen can freely carry out transactions with funds;
• the starting payment under the offer is 4 - 5% lower.

Attention
There are a number of serious disadvantages of foreign currency mortgages. Credit institutions that issue mortgage loans in foreign currency put forward serious requirements for borrowers. The agreement may provide for the possibility of changing the terms of cooperation and monthly payments without the client’s approval. There is a risk of bankruptcy. As a result, the person will lose housing and money.

An appeal to the central office of Rospotrebnadzor showed that this is not a private position of the department’s local units. True, Rospotrebnadzor itself preferred a rather general commentary to explanations about the change in rhetoric. “The contractual relations themselves related to the issuance of a loan in foreign currency do not contradict the norms of the law. But this does not mean that such an agreement cannot be challenged in court,” Oleg Prusakov, head of the consumer rights protection department of Rospotrebnadzor, told Kommersant. Until now, the position of Rospotrebnadzor was, rather, in favor of borrowers, of whom there are about 15 thousand people in Russia. The department actively participated in the courts of foreign currency borrowers with banks. “Currency borrowers requested and received opinions from Rospotrebnadzor on violations contained in mortgage currency agreements,” notes one of the leaders of the All-Russian Movement of Currency Borrowers, Galina Grigorieva. “Or they engaged Rospotrebnadzor as a third party.” Examples of this are the Pushkin case regarding the claim against VTB 24, the Krasnodar case regarding the claim against Absolut Bank, the Kaliningrad case regarding the claim against Raiffeisenbank, she points out. According to Finpotrebsoyuz, borrowers filed about 20 lawsuits against banks to revise the terms of foreign currency mortgages, in which Rospotrebnadzor was involved as a government body giving an opinion on the case in order to protect consumer rights. Six claims were won in the first instance. However, four were canceled at the appeal level; two have not yet been considered by the appellate authority. Not a single case has yet reached cassation. In addition, Rospotrebnadzor was a member of the working group to monitor compliance with consumer rights when providing consumer lending services in foreign currency. “Representatives of Rospotrebnadzor, the Central Bank, the State Duma, the ARB, the ARBR, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Finpotrebsoyuz, lawyers, and experts took part in the work of this group,” says Viktor Maydanyuk, chairman of the board of Finpotrebsoyuz. True, here too the activities of the agency for the protection of consumer rights were not very productive. None of the legislative initiatives found support. In addition, the key regulator of banks, the Central Bank, did not intervene in this dispute and limited itself to recommendations for converting loans into rubles at a fixed rate (see Kommersant of January 26, 2015), which, however, banks are in no hurry to implement. But the last straw, according to experts, could be the position of the Prosecutor General’s Office on this issue. “In March 2021, mortgage borrowers filed collective complaints with the prosecutor’s office regarding violations of contracts and “genocide of citizens,” said Galina Grigorieva. According to her, the borrowers did not receive a response from there. According to the chairman of the board of the Confederation of Consumer Societies, Dmitry Yanin, the prosecutor's office did not see any violations and sent appeals to Rospotrebnadzor. In a situation where almost all departments have abstracted themselves from the situation with foreign currency mortgage borrowers, Rospotrebnadzor could well have followed the principle “one man in the field is not a warrior,” market participants believe. And this position, according to lawyers, is quite understandable. “It’s difficult for me to say what Rospotrebnadzor can operate with,” notes managing partner of the legal entity Vasily Nedelko. “Perhaps in isolated cases it will be possible to get caught in misleading the consumer. But given that the foreign currency mortgage was issued many years ago, all statutes of limitations have passed.” “Indeed, if the bank did not issue booklets to the client about the advantages of foreign currency mortgages or did not agitate the client in any other provable way, then it will be extremely difficult to see the deliberate misleading of consumers,” Dmitry Yanin also agrees.

What types of risks accompany foreign currency mortgage borrowers?

The main risk of a foreign currency mortgage is the fall of the ruble. As a result, your monthly payment will increase significantly. Foreign currency borrowers faced this situation in 2014-2015.

Another risk of a mortgage is the possibility of losing your home. The disadvantage is inherent in both the classic and foreign exchange offers. If a large debt arises, the financial organization has the right to go to court with a request to foreclose on the collateral. The court will satisfy the creditors' demands and put the housing up for auction.

Bankruptcy of foreign currency mortgage holders // Is it salvation?

1. One of the hot topics of recent days is the riots of foreign currency mortgagers. An example is in the video from 32 minutes. There are different opinions about who is to blame for the current situation. However, a much more pressing question is what to do.

A number of experts - Igor Vyshegorodtsev, Mikhail Vasilega, Oleg Zaitsev - on Facebook expressed the idea of ​​​​the applicability of the debt restructuring procedure in this case.

2. However, based on communication directly with debtors, I see a completely different picture. Typical situation: an apartment costs 6-7 million rubles, in fact the debt at the current exchange rate is 10-11 million rubles. According to the schedule, the debt should be repaid within 5-10 years, but in fact the schedule has already been completely disrupted. There are two options left - negotiations and litigation. The bank is not interested in negotiations, as a result of which all negotiation options - approval and extension by creditors of the restructuring plan, variability in its terms - actually do not work.

Clause 4 art. 213.17 of the Bankruptcy Law provides literally the following: “If the meeting of creditors does not approve a plan for restructuring a citizen’s debts, the arbitration court has the right to approve this plan, provided that its implementation makes it possible to fully satisfy the claims of bankruptcy creditors for obligations secured by a pledge of the citizen’s property.” Careful reading of paragraph 2 of Art. 213.14 of the Bankruptcy Law dictates that the period for implementing the plan in such cases will be only two years.

Attention, question: if a person cannot repay the debt on schedule within 5-10 years, how is it possible to fulfill the five-year plan in two years? Obviously, only a very limited number of debtors can take advantage of this option. Everything else is voluntary; the bank is not formally obliged to make concessions.

UPD I was corrected with reference to paragraph 34 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the RF Armed Forces “On Bankruptcy of Citizens” - they say that during the restructuring it is enough to get out of the situation of arrears, and it is not necessary to repay all debts: “... the goal of restoring the debtor’s solvency will be considered achieved if at the end within the period of its implementation, the debtor will have no overdue obligations and will be able to continue to fulfill his obligations..."

But something tells me that in the harsh Russian reality, this scenario is not very realistic: not only will it be necessary to pay in addition everything unpaid (even taking into account the priority of repaying the principal debt), but in another 2-3 years the debtor needs to be ready to repay debt strictly according to schedule.

Those. Most likely, the debtor can only get some respite, but in the end everything will return to normal - with the exception of rare cases when the debtor receives an inheritance or can sharply, at least double, increase the level of income. A complete solution to the problem has not been and is not expected.

In addition, no one has canceled the bank’s right to demand early repayment of a loan in case of significant delays, which returns the course of events to the idea I originally expressed.

3. The second problem: the cost of the procedure. And this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, debtors are limited in funds, on the other, bankruptcy managers do not have a burning desire to turn into financial slaves. Thus, the AU’s remuneration is set at 10 thousand rubles. for the procedure, and it will be paid only upon completion of the case.

With a three-year restructuring period, the remuneration actually amounts to 277.77 rubles. per month (9.26 rubles per day). For two years - 416.67 rubles. per month (RUB 13.88 per day). For comparison: in the implementation procedure, which is introduced for a period of 6 months, in the best case, the AU’s remuneration will be 1,666.67 rubles. per month (55.55 rubles per day) - and only if there is no extension.

Administrative risks under Part 3 of Art. 14.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for any minor error (example - case No. A63-12062/2015) are respectively: from 9000% to 18000%, from 6000 to 12000%, from 1500 to 3000% of the monthly remuneration, i.e. the size of the fine is 15-180 times higher than the monthly remuneration (and we haven’t deducted personal income tax yet!).

And for a repeated violation - absolutely regardless of its severity - the arbitration manager is deprived of the right to the profession for at least six months, and for a maximum of three years.

Under such conditions, the procedure can be undertaken either by an AU - a novice, or frankly “ugly and frail”, or a “suicide bomber”. It’s not surprising that there was talk of a boycott.

Science fiction in the category of “individuals need to be bankrupted wholesale” can only be promoted by people who are infinitely far from practice. For absent debtors, it is enough to send out requests, receive answers, analyze, make reports, and submit them to court. Problems always arise with individuals - I can say from two years of experience working in the Human Rights Commission / V.V.P. Public Reception. / in the district court as an assistant judge. There will always be a dissatisfied person who will write complaints to all authorities simply out of spite - there are enough of them in bankruptcy procedures for legal entities, and among individuals there are even more such persons. As a result, the likelihood of making technical errors grows exponentially, which entails the stated risks.

The conveyor belt of business conduct leads to professional degradation and a drop in quality - this is clearly visible in the example of the legal profession. In this case, the appointed lawyer receives at least 550 rubles. per day - more than AU per month, while it is enough to imitate vigorous activity (or just read a newspaper) and sign where the investigator says - there are no risks of penalties. And if the legal profession is 70-75% of the professional bottom, then where are they pushing the AU?

And I’m not even talking about annual insurance costing from 104 thousand rubles. up to 1.2 million rubles and new contributions to the compensation fund of thousands, 500 each...

That. The restructuring procedure is completely unsuited to the needs of foreign currency mortgagers. The only thing that may be interesting here is the sale of property and “cutting off the mortgage tail,” but the problem of financing one way or another remains relevant.

4. If the legislator really wanted to solve the problems of foreign currency mortgagers, then this could be done without any bankruptcy, obliging banks to carry out out-of-court restructuring under certain conditions. But so far only attempts are being made to solve social problems not at the expense of the state and/or banks, but at the expense of private individuals - arbitration managers. Although in private conversations bank employees openly say: a foreign currency mortgage is a “golden mine” for them, all costs have long been recouped, now everything goes to net profit.

To everyone who believes that everything is as it should be, that arbitration managers are raking in money with shovels: welcome to the profession! Pass exams, pay contributions to the computer fund, insurance, and then drown the uranium scrap in mercury yourself.

Top banks offering foreign currency mortgages

Due to the situation that occurred in 2014-2015, the popularity of the proposal has dropped significantly. Additionally, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation increased the risk ratio to 300%. As a result, most banks abandoned foreign currency mortgages. However, you can still find a company that is ready to finance the purchase of housing in foreign currency. The offer is available in:

1. International Financial Club. The organization issues loans in rubles, US dollars and euros. The overpayment amount is 2–30% per annum. The minimum mortgage amount is 2 million rubles\60,000 US dollars\45,000 euros. Funds are issued for up to five years.
2. Energotransbank. The organization issues loans in rubles, dollars and euros. The interest rate on offer is 8.5%. There is no down payment.
3. Moskommertsbank. The organization is ready to issue a mortgage in rubles or dollars. The minimum interest rate is 10%. The loan amount reaches $600,000. The mortgage is provided for 5 – 25 years.

Attention! The conditions are valid at the time of writing; to get acquainted with accurate, up-to-date information, we recommend contacting a consultant.

Evgeniy Kuzin: “Bankers will wait for our death, but will not negotiate”

We are an ordinary average family.
Husband, wife, two children. We sold a small two-room apartment in the Moscow region and dreamed of a larger apartment in Moscow. I had to take out a mortgage. Banks, of course, themselves pushed then, 10 years ago, towards foreign currency loans.

I was rather wary of dollars. Somehow the 1998 crisis was still fresh in my memory. But the managers confidently and persistently pushed towards this very decision: “What are you talking about! The ruble is constantly getting stronger! The dollar is falling! Yes, we all have foreign currency loans. The management recommended it to us. We should take risks! So take it with confidence. And if anything happens, you’ll convert it to rubles. At any time six months after imprisonment. The treaty does not prohibit.”

The decisive factor was that with a ruble loan, my monthly payment would exceed 50% of our family income, which is why the ruble loan was not approved. And in dollars the percentage was slightly lower, so the payment was 2-3 thousand rubles less. The choice was not “rubles or dollars,” but “to take out a mortgage or not.”

Fine. We issued a foreign currency loan. Of course, I didn’t receive any dollars - the bank issued rubles. Dollars appeared only in the loan agreement, so according to the documents, I owed the bank a lot of dollars. This was at the beginning of 2008. A dollar cost 23 rubles.

In October-November, a crisis began in the country. But there was no fear yet - after all, I did not rule out reasonable fluctuations in the dollar up to 30-35 percent, I made calculations before taking out a foreign currency mortgage.

In the spring of 2009, I was laid off. The first thing I did was write a letter to the bank saying that I had lost my job, I didn’t refuse to pay, but I was temporarily in a difficult situation.

I did not refuse to pay - I had a reserve for a two-month payment. But according to the contract, I was obliged to notify the bank about all changes in my life.

I received an answer, the meaning of which can be contained in one phrase: “According to the contract, you are obliged to pay - the bank is not interested in your difficulties.”

Honestly, I did not expect such an uncompromising answer. Fortunately, despite the height of the crisis, work was found quickly, and I was not late on a single payment.

Meanwhile, the ruble continued to fall, and I decided to convert to rubles. But it turned out that the manager’s promise “you can easily switch to a ruble loan” was impossible to implement - the bank did not have such a program.

I was offered to take out a new loan with all the certificates, checks, approvals, assessments, insurance, etc. Thus, converting a foreign currency mortgage into rubles required large additional costs - a total of 3000-3500 dollars. I didn’t have that kind of money, so I abandoned this idea.

Payments were growing. But so far no one in the family has died of hunger. Worked two jobs.

Finally, in the summer of 2014, my monthly payment exceeded 80 thousand rubles, and my income was 90 thousand rubles. I went to the bank again. This conversation was very different from the one that took place when the agreement was concluded. No one offered tea and coffee anymore, and in general, they were not happy with my visit.

I completely sincerely believed that the bank was ready for dialogue with me and other mortgage holders. After all, there are many of us, I thought, we all found ourselves in a similar situation. What's the point of driving us away?

It seemed to me that the bank was also interested in getting its money back, and therefore was ready to find a way out with me. How naive I was!

And I asked not to impose fines and penalties on me, but to allow me to pay the feasible amount (60 thousand rubles) until the situation stabilizes. The girl politely replied that such an option “is not provided for by Russian legislation.”

I later realized that this convenient phrase was prepared by managers for any unforeseen situation. Like, we would be happy, but why are we against the legislation...

And she spent the bulk of the conversation explaining to me how to get a new, ruble loan. Without any preferences there. At 15% per annum! Despite the fact that the advertising booklet offered a rate of 12%. In this case, my monthly payment became even larger and turned out to be more than the family income.

The bank no longer remembered the rule that the payment should not exceed 50% of the family income, because of which they could not give me a ruble mortgage. The girl didn’t seem to hear me...

I spent the next year, 2015, looking for additional work, taking on any job, by profession or not. During the day I was the editor-in-chief, at night I worked as a taxi driver. At first I was shy.

I pretended that I was just dropping him off along the way. He didn’t set a price: “How much will you give?” Then I learned to determine both suitable places and times. Sometimes I managed to make good money, sometimes I barely paid for the gasoline.

At that time, the dollar was already growing so quickly that it was impossible to earn money for the payment. In the hope of reaching an agreement with the bank, I took out new loans, borrowed from friends, so as not to lose my home - I had the only apartment with a mortgage.

To starve - not to starve. But the belt had to be tightened. Going to the cinema or McDonald's has become a rare holiday. We didn’t even think about summer vacation, so as not to get upset. The son sometimes asked: “Dad, are we poor today or can we take 100 rubles for a chocolate bar?”

By the end of 2015, the dollar began to confidently move towards the 70 ruble mark. I looked at quotes 5-7 times a day, listened only to the Business FM radio, couldn’t think about anything else, the tension grew.

By this time, I had already changed my job to a more profitable one. But the new salary was not enough for me either. There was no one to borrow from for the December mortgage payment - the additional debt was approaching 2 million.

And then my consciousness turned in the other direction. Out of desperation, probably. “Well, I’ll borrow some more money... And then what? How much longer can you torture yourself?! I won’t be able to earn two or three times more, I won’t be able to open my own business, which will start generating income tomorrow. By continuing to struggle to pay the mortgage, I am prolonging the agony. Since a dollar costs 75 rubles, it means it can grow to 150.”

Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS

During those New Year holidays, I realized that I had lost my apartment. And I somehow internally accepted defeat: if you go to the left, you’ll lose your hut, if you go to the right, you’ll lose your hut, and then I didn’t even see a third road.

I made the January payment (2016 came, the ruble weakened as much as possible, the dollar approached the 80 ruble level), in February I had nothing to pay. I didn't borrow. I wrote another letter to the bank with a proposal for a “pre-trial settlement of the issue.” But now I had no doubt that they would not offer me anything again.

I had no idea what to do next. I typed in the search “what to do with a foreign currency mortgage.” I was given the names of various law firms, nothing more. Suddenly I saw in the news that participants in the All-Russian Movement of Currency Borrowers had handcuffed themselves to the railings, moreover, in my bank, DeltaCredit. The most important thing I remember from the plot is that there is some kind of association of foreign currency borrowers. And I need to go there. There's nothing to lose anyway.

I found their group on VKontakte. The group turned out to be closed. In the group, borrowers like me, who suffered from the collapse of the ruble, shared their experiences and discussed possible joint actions that would help solve a common problem.

At that time (February 2016), every Friday, foreign currency mortgage holders gathered at the office of DeltaCredit Bank. About 200 people. People wanted to talk to representatives of the bank, which they reported to management the day before in letters.

But no one left the bank, however, and they didn’t disperse us. The following Friday we came again. The group’s position was simple: “The situation is unforeseen, a crisis, and equally difficult for everyone. Let's share the risks. It would be fair to divide the burden of payment into three parts: 33% is borne by the state, 33% by the bank and 33% by the borrower himself.”

None of the borrowers refuse to pay; they are simply unable to pay as much as they did after the sharp collapse of the ruble by the Central Bank.

For example, my payment increased by 3.5 times!

For two years, borrowers tried different ways to get the bank to negotiate. The bank's management was hiding from its clients. The result was that in October, two DeltaCredit borrowers spontaneously began a hunger strike of despair in the bank’s office. They, just like me and thousands of other foreign currency mortgage holders, wanted one thing – for the bank’s management to start a dialogue.

The Tatianas (that was their name) lasted a week and naturally became very weak. When the women were taken away in an ambulance, I, along with another victim of a foreign currency mortgage, decided to pick up the “banner” and continue the hunger strike of despair.

Their action drew attention to the problem. State Duma deputies were also on our side. Fortunately, the bank's office is located next to the public reception of the lower house of parliament. Next door.

First, Vasily Vlasov, a deputy from the LDPR, listened to the borrowers; he immediately went to the bank’s office and demanded to connect him with management: “Are you aware that your people are starving, they’ve been waiting a week to meet with you?!” He managed to achieve a meeting between movement activists and representatives of the bank’s management. It was promised that meetings with borrowers and discussions of new payment terms would begin tomorrow.

Therefore, before the hunger strike, I had hope that in a couple of days meetings would be scheduled and we would return to our families. Nadezhda was again killed by the bank, which again played the silent game. The situation did not develop at all.

During the hunger strike, what I was most afraid of was the night. In the evening, the bank closed, and the hungry with a support group (assistants in such a matter are vital - either call a doctor, or stop the provocation, or film our “liquidation”) went down to the cafe of the business center until the morning.

It was important to be under cameras at all times so that no one could find fault with the purity of the hunger strike. Will I be able to starve in a cafe where there are many temptations? But it turned out that it is not difficult at all. I almost didn't want to eat. I wanted to sleep.

And it was impossible to sleep either. As soon as I dozed off, the cafe administrators immediately became indignant - they say that we are scaring away customers.

Every morning we returned to the bank, handed over our letter to management, recorded it and waited for a response. To no avail. On Thursday (the fourth day of my hunger strike), the genre changed slightly. Security called the police. An outfit appeared on the threshold: “You’re interfering with work!”

“We are bank clients, we came to our bank, wrote a letter and will not leave until we receive an answer.”

“Here you are sitting together on the sofa - this is no longer a single picket. A single picket is if you are sitting alone. It was not a single picket that had to be coordinated. We will book you for violation!”

And continue in the same spirit.

Later, the head of the police department arrived and... scolded the bank security chief for making a false call: “I see no signs of a violation of order.” And he told us: “Don’t run into trouble and don’t give in to provocations.”

The leader of the United Russia faction, Vladimir Vasiliev, came. He sympathized, asked questions, and promised to create a working group. “Go home to the children. Take care of yourself. - said to my partner. “We will solve everything.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky sent his assistants and a letter. They persuaded us to stop the hunger strike and promised to “take control” of the situation. We agreed. My personal hunger strike lasted five days. Our total is twelve days. These days made us all understand that the bankers will wait for our death, but will not negotiate.

Instead of general negotiations, the bank held several personal meetings. One of those women who was starving, as a result, converted the loan into rubles. No one from the bank has yet met with me.

The irony, or even sarcasm, of the situation is that I now have a personal manager at the bank. As long as I paid, no one was interested in me. And as soon as I stopped bringing money to the bank and feeding employees, I became an inconvenient client - I got a personal manager.

Her tasks are almost collector's ones. She calls regularly, scares, presses. “Do you understand that you live in someone else’s apartment?! You will lose all the cases - better agree to transfer the apartment to the bank! You won’t be able to live in it anyway...”

Each of our conversations lasts at least half an hour. We stole 30 hours of each other's lives! And not a single attempt to reach an agreement or find a compromise!

Tomorrow there will be another trial. And I'll probably lose it. This is our only apartment. Do not have another one. For eight years I regularly paid the bank for it.

I took out 4 million 500 thousand rubles on credit and paid the bank 6 million 900 thousand rubles over eight years. And he still owes 12 million rubles (with fines). My apartment now costs 7 million rubles...

When we wanted to move from our small apartment in the Moscow region, we spent a year negotiating with the guardianship, who were worried that my children would be left without housing - this is how the state cared about the rights of the child 10 years ago. Now my children (one of whom is a minor) can actually stay on the street. But now this no longer worries anyone in power.

Photo from dolgibanku.net

Basic standard conditions for foreign currency mortgages

If the client wants to get a mortgage in foreign currency, he will need to agree to the conditions put forward by financial institutions. First of all, real estate purchased with company funds will be pledged. The property will remain encumbered until the obligations are fully repaid.

Additionally, the property must be insured. The policy must protect against loss or damage to property. The bank will only accept insurance that provides compensation that covers the full cost of the property or the loan issued.

Down payment amount.

In order for the bank to issue a foreign currency mortgage, you must provide a down payment. The amount is needed to demonstrate the borrower's solvency. The down payment is a percentage of the cost of the premises. For banks, this is an additional guarantee that the client will fulfill his obligations. Therefore, the bank seeks to encourage borrowers to provide a larger initial payment. The loyalty of the financial institution depends on the size of the amount. The larger the down payment, the lower the interest rate. The average figure is 15% of the property value. However, Energotransbank is ready to lend money without an initial payment.

Minimum and maximum loan amount.

The size of the credit limit depends on the cost of the apartment. Typically banks are ready to lend up to 85% of the cost of housing. However, the minimum amount may be limited. It starts from 2 million rubles, 60,000 dollars or 45,000 euros. The maximum loan amount reaches 30 million rubles in foreign currency equivalent. Some companies are more loyal. Thus, Moskommertsbank can issue up to $600,000.

Required conditions.

To borrow money, the borrower is required to insure the property and transfer the premises as an encumbrance. The property will be pledged until the obligations are fully settled. Some banks ask the borrower to insure life, health and protect himself from job loss. The company does not have the right to impose services, but the likelihood of approval of the application depends on it. If you agree to the company's offer, your chances of getting a foreign currency mortgage will be higher.

Loan terms and interest rates.

A mortgage is associated with receiving a large amount of money. You won't be able to pay off your loan quickly. Therefore, banks offer flexible return periods. The minimum period is 5 years. During this period, the International Financial Club asks to make a settlement. Moskommertsbank has a more loyal approach to clients. It provides repayment terms of up to 25 years.

Interest rates on foreign currency mortgages also vary significantly. The overall assessment of the loan depends on the amount of the overpayment. The minimum cost of the service is 2% per annum, and the maximum is 30%. The indicator is set taking into account the amount provided, credit history, and reliability of the potential borrower.

Foreign currency mortgages go away, but their slaves remain

Central Bank reports indicate that the age of foreign currency mortgages is coming to an end. Over the 11 months of last year, only 10 Russians took out a mortgage in foreign currency. In 2016, 34 people received such loans, and in 2015 and 2014 – 91 and 750 borrowers, respectively. Taking into account statistics, but not forgetting that behind each figure there are human destinies, LIVING found home buyers for whom fluctuations in the exchange rate of the dollar, euro and other foreign currencies remain akin to a nightmare.

Is there a problem?

According to the general director of the First Mortgage Agency, Maxim Eltsov, no one has been issuing foreign currency mortgages for a long time. This issue may be interesting only from the point of view of social tension, but the tension has already subsided, “they resolved it as best they could.”

“Banks solved the problems of currency traders. They did it individually and not publicly. So that others don’t see that someone has better conditions. Some individually wrote off part of the debt, others restructured it. Some banks took the apartments on their balance sheet, writing off the remaining debts and providing preferential rent for several years and the right to buy the apartment again,” commented Maxim Eltsov, explaining: many took out foreign currency mortgages because of the 8% annual rate, while in rubles the bank then asked for 11-12% per year.

But according to the chairman of the public movement “Call of the People” Sergei Zaitsev, a slightly different picture emerges. Some banks (for example, in Moscow Moskommertsbank and Vladprombank) still issue foreign currency mortgages.

“Of course, it’s not what it used to be. But the problem of foreign currency mortgages has not been solved, even taking into account what we, working together with foreign currency mortgage holders, have achieved. In the summer of 2021, Sovcombank set the 2008 rate for seven mortgage holders, and the next day Absolut Bank did the same, only with 50 cases. However, this is a small part of those who took out a foreign currency mortgage - there are thousands of them across the country,” Sergey Zaitsev told LIVING.

This situation prompted “Call of the People” to make the film “Currency Mortgage”. The film tells about people who have become “cash cows” of banks, and shows footage of foreign currency mortgage holders struggling for their homes. LIVING, in turn, did not have much difficulty finding several people who fell into franco-euro-dollar bondage.

Banks in the Moscow region demand francs

A pensioner from Odintsovo near Moscow, Galina S., decided to take out a foreign currency mortgage in 2008, after her daughter entered the capital’s university. The girl was not given a hostel, so her mother, at the age of 48, went to work in Moscow. In the capital, dreaming of her own home, Galina tried to take out a loan from five banks. However, every credit institution offered her a loan in dollars, Japanese yen or Swiss francs, “they refused in rubles.”

At the end of September 2008, the woman finally took out a long-awaited mortgage from OTP Bank JSC. For 22 years, she was given a loan in rubles, while calculating the debt in Swiss francs. The down payment was money from the sale of an apartment in the Smolensk region - 700,000 rubles. With these funds and a loan of 4,500,000 rubles, Galina S. purchased an economy class one-room apartment with a surface area of ​​35.8 square meters in Odintsovo. m.

Further, according to Galina, over seven years she paid 5,000,000 rubles. Of this amount, she paid about 700,000 rubles ahead of schedule in 2009, when she sold the car and her inherited share in her father’s apartment. The woman did this to reduce the monthly payment, because “even then the exchange rate began to rise.” The bank refused to convert the debt into rubles, since the debt exceeded the cost of the apartment by 1,000,000 rubles, and the loan became partially unsecured. Other banks also required this difference to be paid in order to refinance the loan.

“In August 2011, the rate doubled, and the payment increased from 36,500 rubles to 74,000 rubles. And in 2014, the growth of the Swiss franc repeated and reached its peak in the winter of 2015. Delays and underpayments began. The monthly payment became 125-130 thousand rubles,” recalls Galina S.

Today, the monthly payment of a pensioner near Moscow is 94,800 rubles, which is half her income. At the same time, a 58-year-old woman recently lost her job, and companies want to see people under 45 years of age among applicants. Not wanting to give up, Galina is looking for a job. At the same time, she submitted documents to the bank to transfer the loan into rubles using the state program.

The cart of dollars hit the car of problems

Viktor Knyazkin took out a mortgage in April 2008 from DeltaCredit Bank. The loan amounted to 106,000 US dollars at the rate of 23.6 rubles per dollar. In rubles, Victor received 2,249,000 rubles.

“It has now become clear that there were no dollars. The contract was drawn up for air. There are also no accounts with the Federal Tax Service. In 2009, I wrote an application to the bank for restructuring in rubles, for which I received a lawsuit. After running around to lawyers, I realized that I was in trouble: the fraudulent scheme was protected. The state made a lot of mistakes when creating mortgage laws. Since then, nothing has changed, and the situation of mortgage holders has been further aggravated,” says Viktor Knyazkin.

In order for the bank to withdraw the claim, Victor continued to pay in dollars, doing this even when the US currency exchange rate was 86 rubles. Until 2015, the man had no arrears, but after that the money simply ran out. In May 2021, the bank filed another lawsuit against Viktor Knyazkin. The Presnensky court determined: the defendant must pay $100,000, and when put up for auction, the cost of the apartment is 3,245,000 rubles. The owner values ​​his home at 4,200,000 rubles.

“According to the court, I owe $100,000, in April 2021 - $123,000, and in December 2021 - $115,000. How do they calculate this amount for me? According to our calculations, it turns out that now the bank owes me,” the foreign currency mortgager is indignant.

Confident that he was right, last year Victor filed a counterclaim for defrauding the consumer. However, the court does not accept any petitions and does not order examinations to recalculate the disputed amount. As a result, Viktor Knyazkin, along with a small cart of large dollar debts, has a carload of problems with nerves, scandals at home and loss of work. In conclusion, Victor calls himself a scourge with the prospect of becoming homeless.

Another dollar borrower, Alexander Alexandrov, lives in St. Petersburg. The man took out a mortgage in the amount of $104,000 in 2007. Raiffeisenbank issued him a loan for 25 years at 10% per annum.

According to Alexander, the bank refused him a loan in rubles because of the amount of the monthly payment. However, the difference between the payment on a foreign currency mortgage and a regular one was only 2,000 rubles per month. When the dollar exchange rate became unstable in 2008, a St. Petersburg resident turned to the bank with a request to transfer the loan into rubles. The bank did not do this, citing the lack of programs providing for the transfer.

Until 2014, Alexander coped with the payments, and then difficult times began. He and his fellow sufferers from both capitals regularly took to the streets with pickets and rallies. There were cases when foreign currency borrowers went on hunger strikes and held protests in bank buildings. Only towards the end of last year did Alexander Alexandrov manage to solve his problem. In August, he submitted documents to participate in the Housing Mortgage Lending Agency (AHML) program, and in December his loan was transferred from dollars to rubles.

Meanwhile, from the clarification of the St. Petersburg resident it follows: not all credit institutions participate in the AHML program. Participating banks refinance loans at a rate not exceeding 11.5%. At the same time, AHML finances 30% of the loan amount of no more than one and a half million rubles. Cases with loans of up to three million are considered by an interdepartmental commission.

Word to the lawyer

According to the lawyer for debts, loans, mortgages, sureties, taxes and financial monitoring Konstantin Romanov, the situation with non-repayable mortgages, especially foreign ones, was created by banks, “and deliberately.”

“The entire judicial system came to the bank’s defense (whether voluntarily or forcedly, I don’t know). However, it is banks, according to foreign exchange legislation, that can conduct foreign exchange transactions. Borrowers - only through banks. Not a single bank offered hedging (insurance, guarantee - ed.) of currency risks, i.e. completely transferred these risks to the borrower. And the courts supported this,” a practicing lawyer commented to LIVING.

Despite this, Konstantin Romanov is convinced that there is a way out of the “enemy ring”. To return the apartment to the borrower, lawyers change the loan agreement from a mortgage to a consumer one. This method excludes the apartment from the collateral and reclassifies its legal status. At the same time, there are cases when cases are won due to forged signatures by the bank or added conditions in mortgage agreements.

“But I understand why it was done this way. Unfortunately, strategically this is true. The authorities sacrificed mortgages for the sake of the integrity of the banking system, and this applies to all borrowers. When the government canceled a special norm, giving an advantage to the bank over the debtor, when the Constitutional and Supreme Courts made judicial decisions in favor of the banks (even taking into account that the courts did not examine the norms of currency legislation), the government tried to tell the borrowers only one thing: the borrower must defend his rights before signing the loan agreement, and not when the borrower became a debtor. The law obliges the bank to enter into loan agreements, and the borrower can include his own conditions in the loan agreement - the law allows this. But the borrower saves on specialists and therefore loses to the bank already at the stage of concluding the contract. But if the borrower decides to do this, then the problems with the mortgage will largely be resolved. For example, the borrower may include conditions prohibiting the bank from foreclosure on the apartment in special cases, or limit the amount of payments to a percentage of the salary (no more than half). So, foreign currency mortgage holders themselves are largely to blame, having renounced their rights,” concluded lawyer Konstantin Romanov.

February 21, 2021

Author: Tatyana Silina

An example of calculating the rate for a foreign currency mortgage, depending on the Central Bank refinancing rate

Refinancing rate is an indicator used by the bank when carrying out transactions with commercial financial institutions. Additionally, it is used to calculate fines and penalties, as well as for tax purposes. The indicator is reviewed periodically. Information on changes in the key rate is published in the information message of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

The application of the indicator is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 395 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. It states that in case of unlawful withholding of funds or evasion of their return, interest will be charged on the amount of the debt. A similar rule applies to foreign currency mortgages. In this case, the amount of the overpayment is determined in accordance with the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Paragraph 39 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 7 dated March 24, 2021 states that unless a different interest rate is established by agreement or law, the amount of overpayment is calculated based on the refinancing rate. However, in the case where the agreement establishes the amount of overpayment, contractual interest will be accrued.

The determination of the key rate depends on the period of delay. The following formula is used to calculate interest:

Amount of interest collected = Amount of debt x Key rate of the Bank of Russia valid during the period of delay / Number of days in a year (365 or 366) x Number of days of delay

It's easiest to understand with an example. Let’s say a citizen took out a foreign currency mortgage in the amount of $300,000 and was late in the period from November 1 to December 1, 2021. The non-payment period was 30 days. In this case, the calculation scheme will look like this:

300,000 x 6.5%: 365 x 30 = $1603

IMPORTANT

The above scheme is relevant if mortgage payments have not yet been made. When part of the principal debt is repaid, the amount of liabilities decreases.

Let’s say that by the time the delay occurs, the person has closed half of the mortgage. Then the calculation will be carried out according to the following scheme:

300,000: 2 x 6.5%: 365 x 30 = $801.

If there is a reduction in the key rate, the cost of a foreign currency mortgage will also decrease. However, the indicator usually does not affect previously concluded contracts. If you want to revise the established amount of overpayment, you must refinance the debt.

How foreign currency mortgage holders can get out of a difficult situation - options for solving the problem

There are several options for solving the problem of borrowers' mortgage debt.

Let's look at them in detail.

Declaration of bankruptcy

Not the best option for a foreign currency mortgage, because:

• real evidence is required;
• the procedure may take months or even years;
• bankruptcy applies to all existing loans;
• payment of state duty and remuneration to the financial manager is required;
• The borrower's property is put up for auction.

In other words, this is an extreme measure that should be taken only in the most hopeless situation.

Many people believe that filing bankruptcy will solve all their debt problems. This is not entirely true. Debts may disappear, but along with them you will have to part with your property, which will be sold at auction to pay off the debt, and at a minimum price. Therefore, it is worth looking for a more convenient way to solve the problem.

On-lending

Loan rates change several times a year, so if the rate or payment amount on a mortgage loan is not satisfactory, the client has the right to contact the bank to obtain another loan that covers the first one. It is up to the borrower to choose the same bank or contact another.

However, when applying to another credit institution, the borrower will face additional costs:

• re-evaluation of housing;
• insurance.

Advantages of refinancing:

• reduction of monthly payment;
• extension of the loan term;
• increase in loan amount.

But when applying for an on-lending loan, you should weigh all the pros and cons, since if you make the wrong decision, there is a risk of being left without money and without housing.

Refinancing

Unlike refinancing, refinancing occurs at the same bank where the mortgage was issued, unless otherwise stated in the agreement.

To get approval for refinancing, it is important to eliminate any delinquencies on previous payments. At the same time, you must have a certificate of ownership of the mortgaged housing in your hands: it confirms the presence of the collateral, otherwise refinancing will be denied.

The state also provides support for refinancing in the form of:

1. Reducing the remaining amount of debt, but not more than 10%.
2. Reduced payment amount by 50%.
3. Fixed rate when refinancing debt in foreign currency is 12%.

Restructuring

For restructuring it is necessary:

• be the owner of the property that will be used as collateral when applying for a loan;
• have a debt balance of no more than 50% of the total amount;
• have a good credit history;
• have no late payments on previous payments.

Debt restructuring allows you to:

• make changes to the payment schedule;
• reduce the interest rate on the loan;
• reduce or increase the loan term;
• reduce the commission amount.

Arbitrage practice

Going to court does not guarantee a decision in favor of the borrower. The only way the court can help is to oblige the bank to fix the exchange rate for payment of 39 rubles. However, the decision in each case is made solely at the discretion of the court.

Therefore, you should not expect that by going to court you are guaranteed to get rid of your debt burden.

Requirements for borrowers for foreign currency mortgages

Banks strive to cooperate only with clients who can make mortgage payments. Therefore, a number of requirements are presented to potential clients. Only persons who have reached 23 years of age at the time of forgiveness from a financial institution can receive a foreign currency mortgage. The age limit is set at the time the mortgage is closed. Women cannot be older than 60 years old, and men cannot be older than 65 years old.

Cooperation is carried out only with citizens of the Russian Federation. Official employment is required. Moreover, the total work experience is from 2 years. At the last place of work, it is necessary to perform the activity for at least six months.

The place of registration of the citizen is taken into account. You must have registration in the region where you apply to the bank.

Real estate requirements

Attention:
Buying a home using a foreign currency mortgage is acceptable on the primary or secondary market. However, the property must meet certain requirements. The company lends money only for the purchase of housing, which can later be sold without any problems. If the borrower wants an apartment in a dilapidated or dilapidated building, he will be denied a loan. Additionally, all communications must be present in the room. A room in a communal apartment cannot be considered as collateral for a mortgage.

Step-by-step instructions for applying for a foreign currency mortgage

If you want to take out a foreign currency mortgage, you must proceed according to the following scheme:

1. Select a financial institution that lends money. Carefully read the loan terms, assessing the interest rate, repayment period, initial payment and available amount. Information is usually posted on the official websites of financial organizations.
2. Apply for a mortgage in a foreign currency. The financial institution will evaluate the potential borrower and make a decision. If the verdict is positive, the citizen will be informed of the amount he can count on.
3. Select a suitable property taking into account the amount approved by the bank. Keep in mind that the premises must meet the established requirements - be located in the region where the financial organization operates, be equipped with all communications and have high liquidity.
4. Talk to the property owner and invite him to make a deal. If the person agrees to sell the property on a mortgage, conduct an assessment of the premises. Keep in mind that the need to pay for the procedure falls on the borrower's shoulders.
5. Submit the documents for the premises to the bank, pay the down payment and enter into a mortgage agreement.
6. Wait for the papers to be verified. If no inaccuracies are identified, a purchase and sale agreement is concluded.
7. Register the agreement in the Russian Register. Additionally, a mortgage on the property is taken out.
8. Wait for the company to transfer the funds to the seller. Cash amounts will not be issued.

Difficulties encountered by foreign currency borrowers due to a sharp increase in the exchange rate

2014-2015 became a turning point for mortgage recipients in foreign currencies. Changes in the exchange rate and the fall of the ruble led to the fact that foreign currency mortgage borrowers were unable to fulfill their obligations. The amount of payments they were required to make to the financial institution often exceeded their entire income. As a result, citizens were physically unable to fulfill their obligations. Significant delays began to occur. Banks actively assessed fines and penalties, which further increased the debt on foreign currency mortgages.

State assistance

The solution to the problem of foreign currency mortgages could be entirely carried out by the state, but, unfortunately, not all issues were resolved by government agencies. The main assistance to foreign currency mortgage holders from the state is the development of a special program that provides financial assistance to persons who have taken out such loans and found themselves in difficult life circumstances.

This program operated for almost two years and helped solve problematic issues for many borrowers. The implementation of the program has been and will continue to be carried out in the future by the Housing Mortgage Insurance Agency, which is responsible for assistance with foreign currency mortgages by the State Duma.

The essence of state support was as follows: to a family that found itself in difficult life situations, the state allocated 1.5 million rubles one time or repaid 30% of the amount of the principal debt that remained to be repaid on the loan.

The restructuring of foreign currency mortgages was carried out in this way for 22 thousand borrowers, and the total amount of financing amounted to about 4.5 billion rubles. At the same time, both borrowers who executed contracts in foreign currency and those who executed contracts in rubles could apply for such assistance from the state.

However, if you read our borrower forum, it is quite difficult to submit the entire set of documents to receive such assistance. As the forum informs, a large number of certificates and documents are required, and they must be submitted in a certain form and within a certain time frame.

Who could solve their problems with the help of the state:

1. Persons who have one or more minor children;
2. Persons who are guardians of orphans;
3. Citizens who have a disabled child as their dependent;
4. Combatants

The old program was completed ahead of schedule due to the fact that the originally planned budget of funds was spent. No more funds will be allocated for this program and applications from Russians will not be accepted. Government officials assure that everyone who has submitted applications but has not yet received compensation will be able to restructure their debts in this way. The same borrower forum indicates that a huge number of families were unable to take advantage of the program and hope for the continuation of the program.

Follow the news of this program and new conditions for participation in the post “Program for Assistance to Mortgage Borrowers.”

Government decisions on foreign currency mortgages, ensuring the protection of foreign currency borrowers

The government tried to protect citizens who took out foreign currency mortgages. An anti-crisis commission was created, headed by Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister. The commission discussed the problems caused by foreign currency mortgages. As a result of the procedure, commercial organizations were given recommendations to introduce a system of monthly reporting on the status of these portfolios.

Additionally, two solutions to the problem were proposed - to allow borrowers to repay the principal debt at a fixed dollar rate, which ranges from 35 to 40 rubles. However, this measure did not suit the banks. In this case, the companies would have to suffer huge losses and be unable to pay penalties on deposits. Then a proposal was made to provide financial assistance to borrowers at the expense of the state budget. The option turned out to be less expensive and became final.

For your information

On April 20, 2015, Resolution No. 373 on mortgage restructuring came into force. Control over the implementation of the provisions of the regulatory legal act was entrusted to the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending. In August 2021, Government Resolution No. 961 was published. It regulated new conditions for participation in the borrower assistance program.

Banks also realized the severity of the problem. First of all, clients were given the opportunity to pay only interest on foreign currency mortgages. Additionally, a proposal was put forward to restructure the debt. Some companies agreed to cancel or reduce the fine, increase the loan term, or provide payments at a fixed rate.

Last news

News of foreign currency mortgages mainly concerns various bills, which have so far been methodically rejected by executive authorities or deputies. Thus, at the end of 2021, several regulatory projects were introduced to the State Duma, designed to alleviate the situation of recipients of foreign currency loans.

In November 2021, the A Just Russia faction proposed a bill on foreign currency mortgages, prohibiting the taking away of mortgaged real estate from such borrowers if they have no other housing. Another bill proposed obliging bankers to inform clients in detail about the possible risks of foreign currency mortgages. The document also established the maximum amount of the penalty for late payment - it should not exceed the key rate of the Central Bank in effect on the day the mortgage agreement was executed.

But the latest news shows that none of these bills relating to foreign currency mortgages have been adopted. And even if they were approved by legislators, they would only apply to new loan agreements executed after the law came into force.

However, the problem of unaffordable payments today worries primarily those who took out loans before the collapse of the ruble in 2014. So far, legislators cannot please foreign currency debtors with a regulatory act that would solve their problems.

It is impossible to oblige banks to bear losses by putting borrowers in a difficult situation. They can write off their debts only at the expense of other clients who have nothing to do with the financial losses of the unlucky borrowers.

For example, at the expense of depositors, reducing their interest rates on deposits. Otherwise, financial institutions will face ruin. In this regard, the legislative initiative of deputy V. Rashkin, who proposed recalculating the amount of the foreign currency loan at the rate in effect at the time of concluding the loan agreement, was rejected.

The main document facilitating the financial situation of insolvent debtors remains the Government's decision on foreign currency mortgages. In April 2015, it adopted a special program to assist mortgage debtors in difficult financial situations. Banks were asked to restructure the debts of certain categories of borrowers, and part of their loans was repaid by the state.

The program was valid until March 2021, until the funds allocated for it were exhausted. Although, according to the document, it was supposed to end on May 31. However, in August 2021, the Government found an additional 2 billion rubles and resumed providing state assistance to a certain circle of borrowers.

These include:

1. Disabled people.
2. Persons with disabled children.
3. Veterans of various military operations.
4. Parents, guardians and guardians of minor children.
5. Loan recipients whose dependents are students of educational institutions who are not older than 24 years of age.

You can familiarize yourself with the text of the document by downloading it from this link.

If the bank refinances these foreign currency mortgages on more favorable terms, it will receive a cash payment from the state that partially repays the amount of their loan. Certain requirements are provided not only for the categories of loan recipients, but also for the amount of their income, the term of the agreement, the characteristics of the purchased property and some other criteria.

Refinancing a foreign currency mortgage

Some banks have introduced refinancing programs for foreign currency mortgages, allowing the debt to be converted into rubles. Many clients have used this service. For recalculation, each financial organization used its own exchange rate. Thus, VTB used indicators that were relevant at the time of the transaction, but applied reduced rates. Gazprombank, Sovcombank, Absolut Bank and Home Credit set the rate from 45 to 60 rubles per 1 dollar. Sberbank offered clients to convert foreign currency into rubles at the rate that was in effect at the time of registration of the mortgage, but demanded compensation for their expenses in the amount of up to 30% of the debt. You can use refinancing not only at the financial institution from which the loan was received, but also at another bank. Therefore, borrowers have a wide range of available offers.

Background

The problem began after the end of the 2014 Olympics; economists were well aware of how much the government had spent on hosting the sporting event.

Then Crimea became part of Russia, which was another point of waste in the country’s budget. Thus, the national currency began to “lose weight” day after day.

Watching the quotes, one could see how the dollar and euro daily add 1-2 rubles in their value. It is worth noting that the instability of the currency reached such a level that fluctuations of one currency pair could reach about 20% per day.

Good to know: one day the dollar exchange rate rose to its peak and was about 85 rubles per unit of American currency.

Borrowers who took out mortgages in foreign currencies faced serious problems. They received their salaries in rubles, but had to pay in dollars.

If at the time of registration of the mortgage they paid 20 thousand rubles per month, now this amount has increased by 2-2.5 times. They have a dollar amount on their payment schedule. For example, $500 per month.

Previously, at the rate they paid 15 thousand rubles, now it is 32 thousand rubles. And here there is no benefit, and even a small percentage will not justify such overpayments.

Those who were more fortunate were those who used a differentiated payment schedule during registration, which decreased with each payment. They paid off the principal amount of the debt at the beginning, when the payment was maximum and the exchange rate was favorable. Now their overpayment is several times less, and the difficulties are not so noticeable against the backdrop of a relatively low payment.

You may be interested in an article about mortgages on land.

Read the article about the child deduction for a mortgage at the birth of a child here.

Restructuring of foreign currency mortgages

Attention
Unlike refinancing, which involves replacing old debt obligations with new ones, the essence of restructuring is to change the existing terms of the loan agreement. Borrowers using the service can count on reviewing the nuances of cooperation with the company that lent the money.

To comply with the provisions of Government Resolution No. 373, DeltaCredit Bank has developed a number of restructuring programs to assist foreign currency debtors. Individuals were able to reduce the amount of debt by 10%, but not more than 600,000 rubles. Additionally, the interest rate was reduced to 10% for the entire remaining term.

A number of banks have taken a different path. As part of the restructuring of foreign currency mortgages, financial organizations offered foreign currency borrowers to reduce the amount of monthly payments for 1 year or until the end of the contract, but on the condition that the period for closing obligations will be extended.

What should foreign currency debtors do in 2021?

More and more clients of domestic banking organizations are becoming unable to repay borrowed loans. This hit hard currency mortgage holders, but ruble debtors were not in a better position. The financial ombudsman, Pavel Medvedev, says that the reason for the problems of people - bank debtors - is legislation.

— Are foreign currency mortgage holders themselves guilty of incorrectly calculating risks and falling into this bondage, or is the state partially to blame?

Pavel Medvedev: Citizens are partly to blame - because in a sober mind and clear memory they borrow this money, and even in a different currency. True, perhaps they did not realize all the risks. Sometimes people don't have a choice. The problem is that the banks also have a problem. They are not at all happy about the fact that they are owed money; they realize that almost all borrowers will not be able to repay their debts - and this is already a loss. But banking organizations were required to accept foreign currency deposits, since many citizens prefer this option.

“Now we can’t say they were wrong.”

- Today they are right. But tomorrow losses may come for them too. We bought dollars and took them to the bank. The bank is not happy with a dollar deposit, but refusal will lead people to competitors. The bank is forced to accept it, albeit at a small percentage. You can’t put dollars in a cell; they have to be lent. A citizen appears for a mortgage and they try to “sell” him dollars that someone previously placed in this institution. And if a person has no choice, he needs an apartment to live in, in the end he thinks something like this: I take a dollar-type loan. An unpleasant story happens for a person, an organization, or a state. The state is also not happy about people blocking the streets.

- So, there are no guilty ones here?

“I wouldn’t look for those to blame; we need to look for a way out of the situation.” There is no good way out. Many foreign currency borrowers believe that banks should recalculate their debts at the rate in effect at the time the money was taken. But then the creditor - the one who placed the deposit - will also have to receive a recalculation at this rate, or the bank’s balance sheet will suffer losses. And this is unrealistic. Anyone who brings money to a banking institution must receive back the same amount, no less and no more, or rubles at today's exchange rate.

— What kind of restructuring is possible?

“Since everyone is partially to blame, the only way out of the situation, in my opinion, is not the best, guaranteeing us heaven, but at least mitigating the hell in which people find themselves - a round table meeting for three parties: the state, the bank and the individual. The parties must decide what burden will be assumed and by whom. The state has already taken on some of the burden: 4.5 billion rubles have been allocated, and this money is already being distributed among mortgage borrowers - not necessarily in foreign currency. Foreign currency - 25 thousand, and only 3.5 million mortgage borrowers. Currency currency received an acute problem almost immediately, ruble – gradually. Every day there is an increase in the flow of complaints from ruble borrowers. I believe that many borrowers will still be able to pay off their debts on their own.

— How many borrowers are unable to service their debt today?

— As for mortgagers – three percent. But there are more and more of them. My information may well be out of date. If we take the number of borrowers as a whole – 20 percent. All borrowers are debtors with loans – this is approximately 38 million. Among those who do not service their debts are 7.5 million people. The mortgage is always paid a little better. Even foreign currency mortgagers service their loans much better than those who use an unsecured loan.

Once there was a TV show with foreign currency mortgage holders, and two people came up to me - a man and a woman. The man said that he bought five apartments with a foreign currency loan, and the woman said that she bought one small apartment, and she has five children (Read about the participation of children in the mortgage here).. This man didn’t really need any help. Of course, recalculating the loan at old prices would have suited him, but his problem was not so significant. But the woman needs help - where will she live with her children if she loses this apartment?

— You mentioned that over the past couple of years there have been fewer debtors. What is the reason? Do people take out mortgages and car loans?

- They do, but still not in the same way as a couple of years ago. At that time, citizens with a lot of debt amounted to approximately 40 million. Recently, the Central Bank has taken measures to make commercial banks more cautious when issuing loans. The regulator punishes bankers who lend thoughtlessly. Of course, banks are afraid not to comply with the instructions of the Central Bank. It is clear to them that the economic situation is deteriorating and there is a significant drop in household incomes. And you should not count on the return of a carelessly issued loan. People began to borrow more carefully. The result is that over the past few years, those who had the opportunity to pay off their debts did so, and either did not take out a new loan or were unable to. And those who are unable to pay are only increasing. If a couple of years ago there were six million, now there are many more.

— Data for last year showed an increase in accounts payable to banks by 30 percent. At the same time, there was an increase in credit card debt by 46 percent. What should people do to avoid worsening their debt problem?

— Appeals from people who are unable to pay their debts are very urgent. It is worth giving credit to the citizens, they have become much more financially literate. Just a few years ago, many did not even know the meaning of the term “loan restructuring.” This, naturally, had its price. The Financial Ombudsman has existed for about five years, and the first complaints concerned restructuring. At that time, such appeals were a great joy - they were not difficult to fulfill. It also happened that the borrower started a quarrel with the bank manager who was considering people’s requests, and the latter refused to restructure. The issue was resolved through the management of this manager. It was always possible to find a way out.

Since 2013, the situation has sharply worsened, and today it is catastrophic. Debt restructuring has become a complex matter, especially when there are two or more creditors. The reason is also that each bank is jealous of the other. If there were three of them, it was impossible to negotiate. Sometimes it happens that there are five to eight creditors. There are people with small debts, and others with over 500 thousand rubles. The law that came into force last year was created for them. It was called, however, unsuccessfully - “Law on Bankruptcy of Individuals”, but it should have been called “On Debt Restructuring”, because most of the text is devoted specifically to restructuring.

—Can you call the law good? Can it help solve the problems of debtors?

— In theoretical terms, it’s not bad, but in practical terms, it’s worthless. It refers to a court, and not yet of general jurisdiction, but to an arbitration court. 400 thousand such debtors is a large burden on arbitration courts, of which there are few in our country. But in reality, this figure of 400 thousand is not visible, because the law is written in such a way that there are many obstacles for a debtor who wants to go to court with an appeal. It is necessary to declare that you are bankrupt - even if this is completely not the case. You need restructuring, you go to court with the appropriate appeal - and there are only obstacles all around. The first and most important of them is that a specialist is required to perform any action. The cost of such assistance cannot be less than 100 thousand rubles. It’s absurd: a person is overburdened with debt, he wants to somehow get rid of this pressure - but it turns out that he needs to borrow another 100 thousand. And who will give it to him if he has such debts?

CASUALTY COLLECTORS

— The news regularly talks about the collection issue. We can talk about a monstrous case when collectors threw an incendiary mixture into an apartment, hitting a child. After all, this is banditry.

— All topics about debt collectors today are terrible hypocrisy. At the same time multifaceted. The person who threw a Molotov cocktail through the window is not a debt collector. He is not affiliated with any collection agency. He is a bandit. The affected family submitted complaints to the police three times (this was checked by collection associations) with complaints about this person. The police didn't do anything. Who should be punished - debt collectors or the police?

If we carried out restructuring, a large number of people who are unable to service their debt would never know about the existence of debt collectors. And now they are racking up penalties and fines. It is impossible to consider the average borrower a swindler who does not want to repay the debt. 80 percent of them, no matter what, pay every day. And “beginning” defaulters immediately turn to me: “Help me restructure the debt.” In the case of restructuring, a person has confidence that he will make it through, and he pays. It’s good for both him and the creditor.

If penalties and fines are increased, a person thinks like this: “If I still don’t pay, I won’t give him anything. It’s better to spend this money on yourself and your family.” What should the lender do? Just make an appeal to the collector - it’s better to go to the collector, and not to the bandit. The collector is obliged to remind such a person of his debt.

Now from a psychological point of view. We ask the question: how many borrowers must default on payments for a domino effect to occur? Psychologists' answer: 30 percent. It’s worth remembering that it’s already twenty percent today. It’s good if they are mistaken, but if not, then they will soon be in trouble, since mistakes are expensive. Not all 38 million are involved in this, of course, but even 15-20 million can cause a disaster in the country’s financial system. It will not be good for anyone in such a situation - neither those who pay carefully, nor those who do not pay at all.

If debt collectors violate human rights, contact a lawyer. Let's say they are hanging leaflets in the entrance. All this can be eliminated within a day after the complaint is filed. Collectors, like bankers in the past, want to become respectable. Other structures not included in this six formed the NAPC organization, which is in direct contact with me. Lawyers call the executive director of this association, and in the worst case, two days is enough to eliminate the violation.

— Is it necessary to ban microcredit? After all, this is a terrible, usurious alternative to normal banking institutions.

— I wonder who uses these usurious funds? There is a type of rather unconscious people - they see something in their neighbors - and they want the same thing. And here next to it there is a post with an announcement about the quick disbursement of funds. That happens. I advise you to behave more carefully. Most of all, people who are pressed against the wall complain about such microfinance institutions. More than a spouse, a very expensive medicine is required (although in theory it should be free). You have to wait a week, but after a week it may be too late. A person takes out a loan, saves the other half and cannot get out of the loan. Why do people prefer to contact such organizations rather than banking ones? Either a loan has already been taken out there, or the money is needed urgently, and the bank still needs time to verify the identity. But I would focus on another problem: I would try to understand why people run for such expensive money. And if this is a medicine that is needed today, and not in a week, I would try to learn how to dispense the medicine today, and not waste energy formulating curses against microfinance organizations. Although I also advise microfinance organizations to be gentler and more loyal to their borrowers.

Got the collectors? Write!

Transfer of the remaining debt on a foreign currency mortgage into ruble debt

In 2015, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation recommended that companies transfer customer debt from foreign currency to rubles at a cost of 40 rubles. for 1 dollar and 50 rubles for 1 euro. However, the action was not mandatory, as it could lead to significant losses for the bank. Some companies still took advantage of the offer. Some companies had higher rates, but even their use made it possible to significantly reduce the amount of debt. Today, transferring the balance of the debt on a foreign currency mortgage into ruble debt is possible only with agreement with the bank.

Pros and cons of foreign currency mortgages

A foreign currency mortgage is a long-term legal relationship with a bank. Here we can highlight the positive and negative aspects:

1. With a growing ruble, the monthly payment will decrease, the client will save money.
2. Low annual interest rate.
3. Providing a period of up to 30 years for full repayment of the loan.
4. Under certain circumstances, there is a risk of going bankrupt. This will lead to loss of housing, as well as money.
5. Terms and monthly payments are constantly changing.
6. Lending institutions have high requirements and strict policies.

These are points to consider when choosing terms.

Bankruptcy of a foreign currency mortgage borrower

If the above methods do not help normalize the financial situation, the bankruptcy of the debtor under the foreign currency mortgage remains. The procedure is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 10 of Federal Law No. 127 of October 26, 2002. Debt can be written off by persons whose total debt exceeds 500,000 rubles. and the delay reached 3 months. The person will have to go to court and initiate bankruptcy.

IMPORTANT

During the process, all the debtor’s property will be sold, and the proceeds will be used to close the obligations. Debts for which there was not enough money to close are written off. If bankruptcy is carried out, financial organizations do not have the right to make claims against the defaulter.