Izvestia: offered to extend credit holidays to consumer loans
Russian borrowers who have taken out consumer loans were offered the opportunity to take “holidays” for up to three months in the event of a difficult life situation. This initiative, Izvestia writes, was made by the Expert Council for the Protection of Consumer Rights of Financial Services at the Central Bank, which developed appropriate amendments to the law on consumer lending.
A similar mechanism has already been used in Russia. It was introduced at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020 and provided for a delay of up to six months in case the borrower contracted the coronavirus or lost income due to restrictive measures introduced by the authorities. The exemptions were canceled at the end of September 2020, when the last applications for loan holidays were accepted. Thus, they could be used until March of this year.
Since 2019, the same measures are provided for mortgage borrowers, but on an ongoing basis. For them, the “vacation” can also last up to six months, after which the borrower is obliged to return to the usual payment schedule.
The authors of the “vacation” initiative for borrowers on consumer loans prescribed in the amendments to the law a period of three months, but they agreed that it, by decision of the government, could be extended to six. There is also one more condition: bank clients with a loan for a period of at least two years will be able to apply for relief.