After receiving the message “Loan approved”, the last stage remains - signing the loan agreement and receiving the money. At the stage of submitting an application and checking the data, the borrower asked questions and received answers to them, thanks to which he settled on the offer of the chosen bank. However, when signing a loan agreement, questions or unexpected facts may also arise. It is important to remember that until the agreement is signed and the money is received in hand, the borrower does not bear any responsibility for repaying the debt or other obligations. If something here suddenly doesn’t suit you, then you have every right to refuse to conclude a deal.

Some borrowers who have waited too long for an answer, or who urgently need money, agree to all the conditions and sign the documents “without looking.” This should not be done, even in a hurry, so that such thoughtlessness does not result in trouble later. You should familiarize yourself with the loan agreement in a calm atmosphere, carefully reading each signed document.

Obtaining loan terms.

This document is called “Individual Loan Terms” or “Loan Agreement”. Based on this, a loan is issued. All terms of the loan, repayment terms, type of payments, conditions for partial or full early repayment, type of repayment, agreement number, open account number, full cost of the loan, availability of additional services, etc. are stated here. After receiving the contract, you must carefully read each clause. If you have questions, you should immediately get answers from a credit expert.

The terms of the contract must comply with the previously stated conditions that were discussed when submitting the application. If there is a discrepancy, it is worth asking the bank employee again: was there an intent to mislead the client in order to accept the application and present a fait accompli, or whether the proposed conditions do not correspond to the actual ones. Thus, in the loan agreement it is worth paying attention to the following points:

• Personal data. They must be specified without errors.
• Amount of credit. It must be as specified.
• Interest rate.
• Number of payments and their size.
• Conditions of NDP and RAP.
• Presence/absence of additional fees for issuing a loan.
• Connection of insurance programs.

At the end, the loan agreement is signed bilaterally: by the client and the bank representative.

Receive a payment schedule.

The payment schedule is a list of loan payments, according to the loan agreement (CA). The size and number of payments must match the specified values ​​from the CD. The schedule should reflect:

• Maturity date.
• Payment amount.
• The amount of the principal debt.
• Interest rate.
• Amount of additional services.
• The total amount of payments, the amount of interest and principal.

The amount of the principal debt is the money that the client receives in his hands. Increasingly, banks include in the principal debt the amount of insurance, which is calculated for the entire term. Interest is also accrued on this amount.

The form with the payment schedule also indicates the account for repaying the loan, the number of the loan agreement, the date of payment, and the interest rate. The schedule is signed bilaterally.

With the NDP, a new repayment schedule is formed, which can be received the very next day after the money is written off. It will reflect payments before and after the NDP.

Loan insurance.

If it was decided to take out a loan with insurance, then it will also be present in the documents for signing. Usually this is an application for connection of insurance protection and a policy. Documents can be signed unilaterally or bilaterally, if a bank employee has such authority. The insurance amount is usually included in the principal amount and the bank charges additional interest on it. Less common is when the insurance premium is included in the monthly payment and the client pays it every month. For example, when applying for a loan of 200 tr. The client was offered insurance for 60 months, the cost of which is 40 thousand rubles. for all five years. The contract will indicate the loan amount of 240 tr, although in fact the client will receive only 200 tr.
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Along with the insurance application, the client is also asked to sign an application for the transfer of the insurance premium to the insurance company from his credit account. It turns out that, using loan funds, the bank allocates money for insurance, which the client transfers to the insurance company. The scheme is quite profitable for the bank: a large loan amount is issued and additional income is received in the form of accrued interest on the insurance premium. At this stage of registration, it is no longer possible to refuse insurance from the bank, since it is connected at the time of sending the application.

If the borrower does not agree with it, then most likely the application will have to be canceled and restarted. Review will take place from the very beginning. The systems of some banks have a setting: if the client refuses an approved loan, then opening a new application is possible only after 1-3 months. In order not to lose the necessary loan, it is worth stipulating the connection or disconnection of insurance at the time of submitting the application.

What to do if you are not happy with the interest rate?

Quite often it happens that in advertising a bank advertises one interest rate, but in fact they charge another, usually higher. This is due to the fact that advertising always indicates the minimum possible rate and the conditions for receiving it. If the borrower does not meet these criteria, he will be considered under standard conditions.

If a rate range was initially announced, for example, from 15 to 20%, and the client was given a rate of 19.5%, then this is a completely normal review process. If the application was submitted for a promotion, for example, in the amount of 100 tr. for 12 months at 15%, but in fact the rate turned out to be 18%, then this can be challenged and the application for the promotion can be restarted.

If in this case the client does not qualify for solvency, for example, the period was approved not for 12, but for 48 months, then it means that the decision was made according to standard conditions. It is worth remembering that the number of promotional offers is limited and serves only to attract customers. Here you can either agree with the proposed conditions or refuse the loan.

What to do if you don’t like the terms of the loan?

It happens that after reading the contract, the borrower realizes that the approved conditions are very different from those initially proposed, doubts arise about some points, etc. In this case, you can take a break and think about the decision to take out a loan or refuse.

Any bank has a cool-off period from the moment the application is approved. It can range from 5 to 30 days, after which the application is archived or rejected at the borrower’s initiative. During the cool period, the borrower can take the preliminary agreement with him, study it at home, consult with his lawyer, etc., and then come up at any time and finalize the loan or refuse it.

Applying for a loan is an important and responsible process that requires competent and correct execution.

In order for the loan processing (no matter what: an online loan or an offline loan) to take place in the interests of both parties, you should follow the simplest rules.

What rules are we talking about?

The first and most important rule is that free cheese can only be found in a mousetrap!

In order for you not to have any problems with applying for a microloan, you should keep in mind that too favorable terms of a microloan should alert you. Imagine that you are the one involved in microcredit.

Is it possible that you can afford to lend large sums of money to strangers who are likely not even going to pay you back? It’s unlikely, so you should avoid offers from those microfinance organizations that seriously claim that they are ready to provide you with a microcredit or a loan of a fairly significant amount.

If this is the case, they may also require you to provide a certificate of income or something similar, because otherwise a logical question arises: how can they guarantee the return of their own funds?

Therefore, always and everywhere try to avoid any offers that look too suspicious, because in such a case anything is possible.

Fraudsters disguised as microfinance organizations

In addition, you should also worry about your own safety if we are talking about applying for a loan in an office that is a microfinance organization only at first glance, but in fact is a purely fraudulent structure that issues money in order to make money through criminal means.

Such organizations should be avoided at all costs in order to avoid any problems related to crime.

Strictly on schedule

As many people know, one of the features of any loan or microcredit is that you undertake to repay it strictly in installments on certain dates. This also means that you must comply with this condition of the contract in any case, otherwise the microfinance organization may sue you and win the case.

What exactly should you pay attention to in this case? The thing is that some insufficiently decent employees of microfinance organizations (if we are talking about offline microloans) can mislead you regarding the dates when you must repay the microloan.

This can lead to the fact that you end up owing a sufficiently large amount of money to the microfinance organization only for the fact that you are a little late in payments, and not through your own fault, but because of the insufficiently competent (or simply fraudulent) actions of someone from among them. MFO employees.

What should you do in such a situation?

The first thing you need to remember is that in any case, you should read the text of the microloan agreement as carefully as possible, and also clarify any insufficiently clear points that can be found in the text of the document.

This is necessary in order to prevent any situations that could cause serious damage to your wallet and business reputation.

Air fee

It also happens that some loan agreements for microloans may contain a condition for the payment of any additional commissions, even above the predetermined interest rate.

What exactly could it be? For example, we may be talking about a commission simply for issuing the loan itself. In order to prevent this, you should check all the details in advance with an employee of the microfinance organization where you are going to take out a loan.

You should also consider not doing business at all with a microfinance organization that considers such behavior with its clients acceptable. We can also recommend that you carefully study the contracts not only on your own, but also by inviting a lawyer.

If you do not have extra funds to pay for the services of a professional lawyer (the price for one hour of work of a real professional who is well versed in all the nuances of drawing up a microloan agreement can be quite an impressive amount), then you can invite a law student who will be able to help you find at least the most dangerous “pitfalls” in a particular microcredit agreement.

Also, a commission may be charged simply for making payments on a microloan through a bank or any terminal. The fact is that all such commissions are illegal, because this is, in a way, a double fee for the same service for issuing a loan, because all services (for example, a bank) for issuing a microloan can be laid down in advance, and if they demand from you additional fees, then this has absolutely no justification within the framework of Russian laws.

By the way, if you still paid a commission on a loan, you can still get it back, but you have to keep in mind that in order to do this, you will have to contact a judicial authority, and this is an extra waste of time and effort.

The thing is that some microfinance organizations can completely ignore any pre-trial claims of borrowers. This means that you have only one option - court.

Additional clauses of the loan agreement

Some microfinance organizations initially stipulate in the text of the agreement something illegal or extremely dangerous for any borrower. For example, the right of an MFO to change the terms of an agreement unilaterally. Such a clause can be called complete chaos, because in this case the microfinance organization can completely change any terms of the contract, completely ignoring the interests of the borrower.

What could this lead to? For example, to revise the interest rate upward. Ultimately, after the borrower has already paid back the money with interest (and quite a lot of it), they will demand additional money from him for unknown reasons.

Restrictions on early repayment of a microloan

In this case, we may be talking about another extremely unfavorable condition for any borrower, because in many cases you will be charged high interest rates for using other people’s money.

Who wants to be charged interest if he already has the ability to repay the loan early? In order to be able (if the financial situation improves) to repay the loan ahead of schedule, you need to study the loan agreement with the microfinance organization in advance.

Remember that if you have not found any terms that you desire regarding the loan, you should consider offering the MFO your terms of the agreement.

It is likely that the microfinance organization will agree to this, because it would be stupid if they miss a potentially solvent client who is ready to return all the money that he takes from the microfinance organization as a loan.

Also, do not forget about basic precautions, for example, about pens, the ink of which fades just a couple of weeks after signing the contract.

Have you never taken out a loan, but circumstances are such that you cannot do without outside financial assistance? We will tell you in this article what points you should never lose sight of when taking on debt obligations to a bank.

Right choice

If you urgently need to borrow money (to buy an apartment or an upcoming wedding, to purchase expensive and very necessary medicines, or for repairs, without which life in an apartment is not a joy, but a burden - there can be a lot of reasons), for the love of God, don’t rush to the bank, the branch of which is located right next to your house. Before signing a loan agreement with a financial institution, carefully read the loan terms in many (and preferably all) banks, using financial calculators, and compare overpayments in different organizations. Do not look at advertising brochures - the interest rate from an advertisement, the offer in which is usually not an offer, and the interest rate in the concluded agreement can (and most likely will) be different.

At the same time, financial consultants also advise submitting preliminary applications to different banking institutions before directly taking out a loan, so that you can compare the individual conditions that the organization can offer specifically to you.

About MFOs

Perhaps you are not the best borrower, from the point of view of reputable banks - you may be too young or not have any documents, or even be a person with a damaged credit history, so you are thinking of applying for a loan from a microcredit organization. Think several times before deciding to do this. Yes, you will get money quickly from an MFO, but it will cost you dearly, very dearly. Before contacting “microfinancers,” be sure to calculate whether you can “overcome” the proposed loan rate of several hundred percent. Calculate how much you will overpay for the entire time you expect to “hold” the debt.

Commissions

Remember: any fees for issuing a loan and for servicing a loan account in our country have been illegal since 2009. If a bank offers you services with such a “burden,” refuse it. If the financial institution has already withheld such commissions, you have the right to return the money through the court.

Insurance

If the bank requires you to insure your life before signing a loan agreement, think about whether you have contacted the right financial institution. Firstly, such a requirement is illegal (insurance is required only for mortgage and car loans), and secondly, it signals that they simply want to “rip off” additional money from you. If your plans did not include additional expenses, tell the bank employee that you do not need insurance. If you find in your credit card that it still contains this clause, under no circumstances sign the document and go to another financial institution.

Important! If you have been forced to take out insurance, you can cancel it within a five-day period (“cooling off period”) and get your money back.

Accuracy of payments

Having taken on a debt obligation, take the trouble to make loan payments carefully and strictly on schedule. Your forgetfulness or negligence will result in penalties. In this regard, when making your next payment, always check exactly how much money you will need to pay and when.

Bigger is not always better

If your monthly payment is less than the amount you want to give to the bank, think about where exactly the “excess” will go. If you deposit amounts greater than those provided for in the payment schedule in order to repay the debt as soon as possible, do not forget to write an application for partial early repayment of the loan each time and demand that they give you a new payment schedule. Otherwise, the “extra” money will simply sit in the account without reducing the loan amount. The bank will simply be happy to use them.

Agreement conditions

If in the loan agreement you agreed to a clause that states that the bank has the right to unilaterally change the terms of the agreement, then one day you may find out that your loan rate has become higher. To prevent this from happening, carefully read the document before signing it and remember: the civil code provides for any changes to be made only by both parties and only in the same form in which the contract was originally concluded. That is, if a bank wants to change the terms of an agreement with you, it must first invite you to the branch, discuss everything with you, come to a common conclusion, and only then change something by concluding a new agreement and canceling the old one, and not like that...

There will be early repayment

Remember: there cannot and should not be any restrictions on early repayment of the loan! The bank has no right to prevent you from wanting to quickly relieve yourself of the burden of the loan, much less charge any commission for this.

Archivist

Until the end of your loan term, be sure to keep all receipts for payment of the debt and after fulfilling your loan obligations, do not forget to take a document confirming that the loan has been repaid. Store it for at least 3 years. You never know. In case of unexpected claims from the bank, these papers will be able to protect you in court.

Information updated: 10/31/2019

When applying for a loan, many people are faced with the fact that the terms of the offer are very different from those stated in the advertisement. The interest rate increases, hidden fees appear, and the bank itself imposes additional services. Any offers have such pitfalls - consumer, mortgage, collateral, cash loans or installment plans like 0-0-12 in stores.

Because of these unexpected nuances, the offer turns out to be not as profitable as stated. Therefore, it is important for the borrower to know how to avoid these problems and get more convenient conditions. In this article we will tell you about the main pitfalls and how to deal with them.

Loan secured by real estate

These loans often offer better terms than regular unsecured loans. They often offer larger amounts at reduced interest rates with less stringent requirements for the borrower. However, when receiving it, the borrower may encounter a number of unforeseen problems:

• Before issuing a loan, the bank must evaluate your home in order to announce its value. The amount of debt will depend on it. The bank can pass on the costs of real estate valuation to the borrower
• The registration may include insurance of the collateral (mandatory by law) and the borrower (optional). Insurance premiums can be quite high and thus offset the benefits of low interest rates. It is usually impossible to choose an insurance company - banks will offer the services of their partners on terms favorable to them
• The bank may underestimate the real value of the property - therefore, the amount will decrease. In this way, the organization is additionally protected from risks - in case of non-repayment, the apartment or house will be sold at market value, and the proceeds will be used to repay the debt and interest on it
• Transactions with real estate pledged may be subject to various prohibitions or restrictions. For example, during the period you will not be able to sell, exchange or donate an apartment, make repairs or rent out

How to avoid?

All terms of a loan secured by real estate are specified in the contract. Study it carefully, pay attention to commissions and additional payments. Check with the bank in advance what operations and under what conditions can be performed with a mortgaged apartment or house. Also find out in what order the collateral is sold in the event of non-payment.

Loans 0-0-24 and 0-0-12: what's the catch?

Many stores offer interest-free installments, often for up to 12-24 months, on their products. In fact, such an installment plan is the same loan, the interest on which is paid not by the borrower, but by the seller. Such offers have several unpleasant nuances, due to which such offers are unprofitable for buyers:

• Typically, the store includes the overpayment for such a loan in advance in the price of its goods. The final price may be noticeably higher than similar offers from other organizations. In addition, “installment plans” can only apply to certain items – most often, unpopular or most expensive ones
• The amount may include additional fees or services, such as origination fees, credit card issues, or insurance premiums. Their size can be quite large - sometimes more than the overpayment under a standard offer for the same amount and period. If you refuse these services, the bank may refuse a loan.
• The interest-free period may not apply to the entire term, but only to part of it - for example, to the first few months. Further, the standard rate of the bank may be charged on the amount of the remaining debt. Early repayment of such debt may be prohibited or strictly limited

A real, “pure” installment plan is arranged directly between the buyer and the seller - no credit institutions are involved in it. But such offers are very rare due to the high risks of non-return and the store’s lack of tools to assess customer reliability.

How to avoid?

Before applying for a loan of the 0-0-12 type, study its conditions in advance - both from the bank and from the store. Familiarize yourself with the registration procedure, fees and additional services. Choose an offer that imposes the fewest restrictions on early repayment - this way you can repay the debt in advance and with minimal overpayments. Try not to apply for such offers when a lot of time has passed since the start of the promotion - at the start the conditions are sometimes more favorable.

But the best thing is not to agree to such offers at all. Plan your purchases in advance and do not succumb to the manipulations of stores and banks. If you are planning large expenses, apply for a regular consumer loan for them from the bank where you are already served. The conditions may be more favorable: the amount will be larger and the interest rates will be lower.

Mortgage

A mortgage is a form of loan secured by real estate, so they share most of the pitfalls. But it has a number of its own nuances that should be taken into account when applying for it:

• The amount may include additional commissions - real estate valuation, transaction registration, insurance and others. Because of them, the amount of overpayments will increase significantly
• Actions with real estate during the term of the mortgage may be prohibited or limited. It will not be possible to sell your home, rent it out, make repairs or remodel without the bank’s consent
• The bank may prohibit or limit early repayment of a mortgage and change the interest rate without notice or consent of the borrower. Reasons for rate changes are sometimes confusing or vague
• When applying for a mortgage, you almost always need to pay a down payment - a portion of the market value of the home. Sometimes a loan can be issued without such a fee, but these offers almost always have lower amounts and higher interest rates

A family that has the right to maternity capital can use its amount to repay the down payment or part of it. You will learn how to do this.

• You can only buy an apartment or house from the bank’s partners – developers or real estate agencies. Choosing housing that will suit your wishes is becoming more difficult
• Risks associated with loss or damage to the mortgaged property (for example, due to fire or natural disaster) are borne by the borrower. He will need to replace or reinstate the bond. If a third party claims his rights to the apartment, the borrower will have to prove ownership through the court himself

How to avoid?

As with a home equity loan, read the agreement carefully. Please note additional services, fees and interest rate changes. Find out in advance which developers and agencies the bank cooperates with. Find out what restrictions the bank imposes on real estate purchased with a mortgage, and in what order they are lifted.

Consumer

One of the most popular types of bank loans is consumer loans. It is issued quite quickly and allows you to use the money for almost any purpose. This type is associated with the most various pitfalls:

• The most common problem is the imposition of insurance. When applying, banks often offer to conclude an agreement to insure the health, life and solvency of the borrower. On the one hand, insurance will help you repay the debt in case of an unforeseen situation. On the other hand, insurance premiums are added to payments, which are almost impossible to return
• The percentages in advertising are one way, but in reality they are different. You see an advertisement with a tempting offer to take out a loan at 10% per annum. But when signing the contract, you find out that the rate is 25-30%. Banks list the minimum rate in their advertising to attract inattentive customers, and explain the conditions for obtaining such a rate in fine print so as not to violate advertising laws.
• The contract may include additional services - SMS notifications, issue and maintenance of a bank card, account opening and others. Refusal of these services may mean refusal to issue a loan - the agreement stipulates that the bank can refuse the borrower without giving reasons. The same goes for insurance.
• The agreement also includes additional fees - for example, for early repayment, making payments in certain ways, or late payment. These fees are often hidden from the borrower in fine print or complex language. Often such fees (for example, for late payments) arise after the borrower makes a payment or repays the debt in full
• Sometimes banks limit the purposes for which loan funds can be spent. You will need to confirm the intended use of the money - otherwise the interest rate will be increased

How to avoid?

All terms - amount, term, interest rate and total cost, as well as penalties for late payment - must be clearly stated in the contract. This is required by the law “On consumer credit (loan)”. Study the contract in advance or have it reviewed by a lawyer. Be sure to clarify the procedure for making payments and draw up a repayment schedule. After you repay the debt, request a certificate of repayment.

As for additional services and insurance, you have the right to refuse them - this is given by the consumer protection law. If the bank continues to impose them, then contact law enforcement agencies or demand legal proceedings. You will learn more about credit insurance.

Cash lending

A cash loan is one of the forms of consumer lending. It is often resorted to by those who do not want to associate themselves with a bank and open accounts and or cards with it. Its nuances are the same as those of the consumer version:

• Often, when issuing such a loan, the money is not issued in cash immediately, but is credited to the borrower’s account. For withdrawing money from an account at an ATM or cash desk, the bank will charge a commission - it can be up to 6% of the amount
• During registration, the borrower may be required to provide additional services (including insurance), which will affect the amount of the overpayment. It is difficult to refuse them, since the bank may reject the application for this reason.
• Loans for large amounts are rarely issued in cash, since in such a situation it is more difficult to track the purpose of the expenditure. Many targeted loans (for example, mortgages or car loans) are always issued only by non-cash method

To protect yourself as much as possible in the future, before signing a loan agreement, you need to carefully study it and ask a specialist to clarify any unclear points. Signing a document blindly is the cause of unpleasant surprises in the loan repayment process. To avoid problems, you need to have a good understanding of what a loan agreement is and what information should be contained in it.

What is a loan agreement?

When reading a contract, it is important to carefully review all sections, and not selectively individual clauses. Only an integrated approach will help eliminate unpleasant situations. What do you need to know about the loan agreement?

Organizational aspects

You can choose the payment day yourself. After submitting an application for a loan and having it approved by the bank, you have time during which you can use the loan or refuse it. Terms vary depending on the type of loan: consumer loan – one month, car loan – six months, mortgage – 9 months. The first loan payment will be on the date of the next month in which you sign the loan agreement, even if the money has not yet been withdrawn. It is possible to adjust the loan to payday.

What to look for in a loan agreement?

A contract is an important document that sets out the obligations and rights of the parties. The text should be easy to read; a large number of asterisks and small lines may indicate an attempt by the lender to hide important information.

• The contract must contain detailed payment schedule, scheduled by month for the entire period. It contains: monthly payments (on principal and interest); debt balance; total amount of overpayment. If any of the listed points are missing, you should contact the manager and ask to redo the contract. You must be told how much money you will pay for servicing the loan and what the final interest rate will be.
• It is necessary to pay attention to interest rate type(constant or variable) and in what cases it can change.

Some banks may require the full amount to be returned within a certain period if the borrower fails to comply with the obligations. This happens for the following reasons:

1. The payer did not notify the bank about the change of place of registration.

2. Did not report the divorce (especially true when the spouse acts as a co-borrower or guarantor).

3. Concealed the worsening financial situation.

As a rule, this happens with unscrupulous borrowers, but it happens that the consumer did not read the agreement carefully. To avoid such problems, it is necessary to read the obligations imposed on the borrower (informing about changes in passport data, work, etc.).

You also need to pay attention:

• If you are planning to repay the loan early It is necessary to check whether the contract contains information about a moratorium on early repayment. Some banks allow early payment only after 3-6 months from the date of signing the document.
• Smaller banks may charge interest for early repayment. You should carefully review the document for the presence of such a clause.

Samples and forms of loan agreements:

Additional Products

• Lenders are actively selling loan insurance to fulfill the plan set by your superiors, arguing that without it you simply will not be given the desired amount. You are not obliged to buy it, no matter what they tell you - neither for a week, nor for a month. Insurance increases the loan amount, which means you will have to pay more.
  If you decide to use this service, you should clarify exactly what risks are insured, why it is important and what the consequences are in its absence, as well as information about the timing of payment of the insurance premium.
• The loan is often accompanied by credit card without warning the borrower. There will be a check mark next to this line in the contract. You have the right to refuse if you do not need such a card or do not know how to use it.
  Credit inspectors entice you with the free issue of a plastic card, however, sometimes they are silent about the paid service. You will have to pay for the card annually, even if you never use it.

How to protect yourself?

It is necessary to clarify all the information of interest before signing the loan agreement.. Before you agree to the bank's terms, you must clearly understand how much you will need to pay, the interest rate and repayment terms. And also find out about possible interest for early repayment and the amount of fines for late payments.

Only by carefully studying the document can you protect yourself from fraud. Documents for banks are drawn up by lawyers, and if you are not careful with the documents, it will be difficult to prove in court, if a controversial situation arises, that in fact you are not at fault, but simply missed one point or another.

The loan agreement is an important document that requires thorough study. You should not save time by signing papers without reading them. By spending only 10–15 minutes of time, you can be sure that the contract is drawn up correctly and all the necessary information is present in it.