According to bankers who develop such services, the limit for buying goods in installments should be quadrupled. They have asked for other innovations, but the Bank of Russia and its deputies are ready to approve the initiatives only partially. RBC spoke about this.
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Banks and installment payment services have criticized the draft law regulating installment payments in Russia. They oppose the 15,000-ruble limit for installment plans without overpayments and proposed raising it to 60,000 rubles. Letters from the National Financial Market Council (NFMC) have already been sent to the Central Bank, the Federation Council and the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market.
The head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, Anatoly Aksakov, said that he was aware of this position. The Bank of Russia reported that it had received a letter from the NSFR.
In August, a bill was submitted to the State Duma on the rules for the sale of goods on installments or with payment in installments. According to it, purchases that are not included in the consumer’s credit history are limited to a limit of 15 thousand rubles per contract. If the amount is higher, the information must be transferred to the credit history bureau (BKI). BNPL (buy now, pay later) installment payment services do not imply the conclusion of a credit agreement with the client, who is identified by his phone number, without passport data; in most cases, these operators do not transmit data to BKI.
Market participants believe that the current threshold does not correspond to reality, as the products that Russians usually buy in installments usually cost between 30 and 60 thousand rubles, in the BNPL segment – between 5 and 6 thousand rubles.
“But this is exactly the average figure for the beginning of the year. Firstly, the distribution of the cost of installment purchases is quite wide, and secondly, the average bill is actively growing, taking into account inflation and problems with imports, but the bill is not drawn up for today, but for the future,” says the head of the NSFM, Andrei Emelin.
He called the 60,000-ruble limit a “reasonable line of demarcation” that will separate BNPL from regular lending, noting that lower limits could simply destroy the payment scheme. He also believes that in this case, Russians will be forced to opt for more onerous loans from microfinance organizations.
The bill under discussion also proposes limiting the settlement period for installment agreements to six months from December 1, 2025, and to four months from December 2027. The penalty for late payment of the contract may not exceed 20% of the amount owed.
Author:
Nikolai Tikhonov
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
