Number of complaints about misselling and bundling of additional services decreases

Thanks to the conduct supervision measures taken by the Bank of Russia, the number of complaints that banks touted additional services when offering loans to their clients dropped by 45.2% in 2024. As a result, the number of complaints in the consumer lending segment decreased as well.

In the microfinance organisation (MFO) segment, the number of complaints about additional sales of unnecessary services dropped by 2.1 times. Furthermore, people complained less about inaccurate information in their credit histories and about fraud – the number of these complaints decreased by 38.7% and 19.1%, respectively. The overall number of complaints against MFOs was down by 22.1% over 2024.

The number of cases of misselling more than halved in 2024. The downward trend began after the Bank of Russia was authorised in 2023 to suspend sales where the rules for informing people were not complied with.

There was a 30% decrease in complaints against insurers mainly because of changes in the procedure for contesting the bonus-malus coefficient (BMC). Earlier, a significant proportion of all complaints in compulsory motor third party liability insurance were routine requests to verify the coefficient. These complaints were prepared by intermediaries for a fee, although people may correct the BMC themselves free of charge. An individual can find the BMC value in the user account on the National Insurance Information System website and, in case of disagreement, submit an application about this. By the end of the year, people almost stopped submitting such routine complaints to the Bank of Russia.

Due to the fact that criminals continue to invent new methods of stealing money, the number of cyber fraud complaints against banks increased by 1.8 times. To solve this problem, the regulator ordered banks to block bank cards and access to online banking for people engaged in money muling, i.e. withdrawing stolen funds and taking them out in cash. Banks must also suspend suspicious transfers for two days. However, this measure had a negative effect on the dynamics of complaints because the number of applications about funds transfers and accounts blocked by banks rose by 2.2 times. However, with regard to the majority of these applications, banks proved that such accounts were used to deceive people.

 ‘The good news of this year is that the number of complaints about hard selling and misselling continues to decrease, which means that credit institutions and MFOs are becoming more customer-oriented. On the other hand, there is bad news as well, which is, of course, a growing number of complaints about fraud. We are taking additional measures to combat it. Starting from 1 March 2025, every Russian citizen will be able to put a ban on concluding consumer loan (microloan) agreements with banks and MFOs in his/her credit history on the Public Services portal. From 1 September 2025, this service will be available at multi-purpose centres rendering state and municipal services. This will allow people to protect themselves against a situation when a fraudster takes out a loan on their behalf or when they act under fraudsters’ influence,’ said Mikhail Mamuta, Head of the Service for Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion of the Bank of Russia.