Bank of Russia recommends banks and MFOs to grant loan repayment holidays to mobilised citizens
The individuals mobilised pursuant to the Executive Order of the Russian President may apply to their bank or microfinance organisation (MFO) for a deferral of payments or their decrease on all types of loans, including mortgages and microloans, for the period of the mobilisation.
The regulator has recommended that banks, MFOs, and other professional lenders should meet the needs of such borrowers and either develop special programmes of loan repayment holidays and restructuring or adapt the existing ones. Creditors are also advised not to charge penalties or fines under the loan agreements, not to demand early performance of the obligations, suspend overdue debt recovery or foreclosure on mortgaged property, and not to evict the borrowers from foreclosed homes.
Dependent relatives of such borrowers have the same right.
Furthermore, banks, MFOs, and credit history bureaus should not consider such restructuring as a factor worsening a borrower’s credit history.
In the future, these special loan repayment holidays can be stipulated by laws.