To paraphrase popular wisdom, we can say: “You don’t like to repay debts, get ready to communicate with collectors”. Banks, tired of fighting with debtors, resort to the help of collection companies.
Lending to individuals is one of the most profitable items in banking. Many unscrupulous banks, in pursuit of profit, sometimes create such conditions for the borrower that he practically has no opportunity to pay off the debt. An unlucky borrower is faced with a choice: pay the bank for the rest of his life or terminate the contract unilaterally, or rather, stop paying and hope for a chance.
After several delays, the bank has the right to turn to third parties for help, if this is spelled out in the loan agreement, and this, as a rule, is always prescribed.
Who are third parties
Third parties in this case are collection companies / agencies. The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for two types of cooperation between banks and collection agencies - an agency agreement and the assignment of claims (cession).
Under the agency agreement, the collection agency assumes the responsibility for a certain fee to demand the return of the debt from the debtor. Assignment agreement means the acquisition, in fact, the redemption of debt from the bank. As a rule, banks sell loan debt in portfolios through auctions. For sale, debts are formed either hopeless or insignificant, the demand for which in court is unprofitable.
There are no articles of the law in the legislation of the Russian Federation that clearly regulate collection activities. Basically, in their activities they are guided by the Law on Banks and Banking Activities and the Civil Code. Collection companies have a rather vague status in the legal field - their activities are not licensed or accredited, their services are not standardized. Collection agencies are commercial organizations with general legal capacity, they are not allowed to engage in banking activities, which greatly affects the legitimacy of their activities.
Their legal toolkit is no different from the capabilities of civilians and organizations - law enforcement agencies, courts, but mainly negotiations.
Collectors' powers
As a rule, the activities of collection companies are reduced to negotiations with the debtor. At the same time, the collectors are extremely limited in the methods of presenting the claim - any suspicion of threats from the operator of the Call-center can be qualified as extortion, as provided for in Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The only working instrument of the collectors is a statement of claim in court. But due to the fact that the acquired debts, as a rule, are small, and the chances of winning the case in the courts of general jurisdiction are small, going to court is practically not used. To reclaim a debt under an agency agreement, collection companies can go to court only on behalf of the bank and by power of attorney.
Therefore, the activities of collectors with debtors are limited to phone calls and SMS messages.
