Failure to pay a late payment on a bank loan carries with it a penalty, the amount of which is specified in the contract. And, as a rule, these are considerable amounts. The total amount of penalties and other sanctions for a month can amount to the entire loan amount, which becomes an unbearable burden.

The longer the debt is not repaid, the more expenses you will have to incur. Below we will consider all the options for writing off loan fines.

Letter to the bank

You can always contact the department and express your disagreement with the large amount of accrued penalties. It is better to submit the application in writing, registering it with the secretary, which will allow you to receive an official response within a month. The text must necessarily contain a proposal to reduce fines.

This paper is prepared in 2 copies and brought to the department. One of which is submitted to the authorities or secretary, and on the second the bank should be dated and signed.

If the credit institution refuses to endorse the application, you can send it by registered mail. It is better to include an inventory of the contents in the envelope. All details of registration can be found out at the post office.

When an institution has received a letter but does not make concessions, it is necessary to wait for a written response about the refusal. It is with such a document that you can go to court and start proceedings.

Litigation

If the case is already in court, then you can always file a petition during the case to write off penalties and other sanctions on the loan. If the bank has not yet responded to the petition in an official manner, then a copy of the petition and a postal notification of receipt can be sent to the court.

It is relevant to reduce or write off fines in cases where their size has increased to half the loan, or even more. There have been cases where credit institutions delayed the time of filing an application to the court so that the client would have more debt.

Thanks to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 333 You don't have to pay interest on the loan. The law provides for the reduction of the amount of debt through the courts. The rule is triggered when the penalty is “disproportionate to the consequences of the breach of obligation.”

At the same time, the authorities consider all circumstances along the way that are not even directly related to the violation. Even inflation is taken into account, including rising prices for food or medicine.

You shouldn't count on the judge's loyalty. There is no guarantee that, having received a petition from the debtor, he will make a decision in favor of the defendant. As a rule, the refusal is motivated by something, for example, the obvious non-cooperation of the debtor with the banking organization. But if the decision is unlawful, then it can be appealed.

Methods for writing off penalties

There are other options to get rid of accrued fines:

• Launch the bankruptcy process for an individual, which has become possible for Russians since mid-2015. This is a long and expensive process, which also has its negative consequences for the borrower.
• Wait until the statute of limitations expires, which, according to the decision of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia and the Supreme Court, is 3 years after the date of the client’s last payment or contact with the bank. Once three years have passed, creditors will no longer be able to demand repayment of the debt.
• Transfer of the client’s debt to the “bad” section. At this stage, you can still agree with the bank, which, if the entire loan amount is paid, can write off a penalty.
• Negotiate with collectors. Due to the fact that these companies acquire debts at a discount of 20%, there is always a chance to reach an agreement to write off penalties.

With the right approach, you can avoid paying penalties on debt. To do this, you will have to show your good faith and desire to repay the debt.

If the delay arose for good reasons, then the bankers and the judge will always make concessions. Although in some cases, if the loan is over 500 thousand rubles, bankruptcy proceedings cannot be avoided.

When applying for a loan, you should carefully study the section of the loan agreement that contains information about penalties. Most borrowers plan to repay their debt on time without violating the terms of the contract. However, even with a slight delay, the bank has the right to charge a penalty. Below you will find answers to the questions. Is the creditor acting legally? How to calculate fines and penalties? What options exist to get out of this situation(*)?

What is considered a late payment on a loan?

The slightest deviation from what the borrower signed is a delay. If payment is delayed by one day, the financial institution has the right to charge a penalty, the amount of which is specified in the loan agreement. Therefore, in case of financial problems, it is necessary to contact the bank and inform the reason for the loan delay. Further actions of the creditor depend on:

• amount of debt;
• duration of delay;
• terms of the loan agreement;
• the wishes of the financial institution itself.

If the bank considers the reason for the delay in payment to be valid, it may make a decision in favor of the borrower:

• do not charge a penalty;
• do not resort to fines;
• provide for some time.

Depending on the length of the delay, the following consequences await you:

• For one payment - a polite reminder of the debt and the accrual of a one-time fine, in accordance with the loan agreement.
• For two or more payments - persistent calls with a reminder about the outstanding loan. An increase in the amount of debt due to accrued fines.
• Delay in payments for more than a year - huge amounts of penalties, constant calls and letters from the bank, threats of transferring the loan to collectors or going to court.

How to calculate fines and penalties

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 330 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, penalties for late payments are:

It states that the amount of penalties is 1/360 of the refinancing rate. Today its value is equal to the key value, i.e. 10.5% per annum. Accordingly, for each day of delay, 0.0292% of the debt amount is charged. According to paragraph 2 of Art. 332 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the level of the penalty may be increased by agreement of the parties.

Penalties are calculated using the formula:

Amount of penalties = amount of debt * amount of penalties in % * number of days of delay / 100.

How to reduce and challenge late fees

Often financiers are not satisfied with the low amount of the penalty specified in the law. They stipulate high penalties in the loan agreement. By signing the document, you agree to its terms. Accordingly, banks levy large fines legally.

You can resist such actions of creditors through the courts. states that you can file a claim if the accrued penalty is not commensurate with the consequences resulting from the violation of obligations. When filing a petition to reduce penalties, draw the court’s attention to the following facts:

• penalties exceed the lost profits of the financial organization;
• the loan delay did not lead to significant consequences for the lender;
• the creditor delayed filing a claim in court, which led to an increase in penalties;
• debtor: serious illness, presence of dependents and other circumstances.

In order for the case to be accepted for consideration, you must prove an attempt to resolve the issue with the bank out of court.

How to write off loan fines

You can get rid of accrued penalties as a result of:

• The launch of bankruptcy proceedings, since the law on bankruptcy of individuals came into force on July 1, 2015. Please note that this process is lengthy and expensive.
• Expiration of the limitation period. In accordance with Article 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, this period is 3 years. After its expiration, the creditor has no right to demand repayment of the debt.
• The bank transfers the debt to the “bad” category. Insignificant amounts for which the costs of debt collection exceed the income from return are subject to write-off by decision of the bank.
• Transferring debt to collectors. Since these agencies buy loans at a discount of up to 20%, with the right approach, you can agree to write off penalties.

How to avoid paying a fine

If you are not well versed in the intricacies of lending, use the paid services of specialists. Legal financial firms legally provide their clients with:

• write-off ;
• debt fixation;
• return of commissions and loan insurance;
• protection of interests in court;
• reduction of monthly loan payments;
• stopping calls from collectors and creditors.

Depending on the situation, experienced lawyers will advise you on the chances of success and draw up a plan for further action.

Is it possible to return the fine?

If there are penalties for late payments, it is difficult for the borrower to repay the principal debt. The bank primarily uses the received funds to pay off fines and penalties, and the remaining amount is used for the loan itself. As a result, the debt is constantly growing. When protecting your rights in this situation, pay the creditor’s attention to the following points:

N And on our website we have repeatedly written about the appearance of debt among borrowers. The reasons for this were explained in detail, as well as the reaction of credit institutions to late payments. All this information can be found in the SEARCH menu. Now let's take a closer look at such a collection tool as a penalty in a bank. How can you resist it and what can you rely on?

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What should a debtor do if he has a penalty at the bank?

In the civil code, the concept of a penalty is regulated by Article 330. Also, in a conversation with the debtor, collectors very often operate on her. And they are right, a penalty in a bank is a common and completely legal thing. Usually in the loan agreement, it is written in small print. But, borrowers don't bother reading. But then, there is no limit to surprise and indignation.

As a rule, the accrual of penalties begins at the very last moment, when the creditor realizes that the debtor cannot pay the amount presented to him in the final demand. This happens after 3-5 months of delay. This amount includes interest, penalties and several fines.

Important: the amount of the penalty is determined by the bank regulations. The accrual is for the entire amount:

• loan body;
• interest;
• fines;
• penalties.

Different credit institutions calculate the penalty in their own way. For example, a large bank can charge 0.2% daily, and a small microfinance organization 2% daily, which will amount to 750% per annum, plus fines!!!

Cancellation of penalties

1. After the bank issues a final demand, the debtor is called by representatives of the collection department and asked to come to their office for negotiations. Further, as a rule, he is offered to pay the amount of debt, including fines, and simply write off the penalty. If the borrower is satisfied with this, then a decent part of the debt is forgiven.

First of all, the bank is satisfied with this; it received real money, plus fines and interest. Oh, he simply wrote off the income from “thin air”. The debtor, in turn, receives moral satisfaction, thinking that he got off easy and paid less.

2. Penalty in the bank, easily canceled with the help of the court. This is regulated by Art. 333 Civil Code of the Russian Federation. How to do it yourself, read .

Important: To exercise this right, it is not necessary to wait for the bank to demand payment of the entire amount. This can be done in advance, as soon as you realize that you will not be able to repay the loan in the near future.

Important: remember that interest, penalties, fines and penalties by law must not exceed the loan amount.

A penalty under a loan agreement is a certain amount of money that the borrower undertakes to repay in the event of failure to fulfill obligations undertaken, or for fulfilling them incompletely. Penalty includes two concepts: penalties and fines.

The amount of the penalty is specified in advance in the terms of the contract. The absence of a corresponding entry indicates that if obligations are not fulfilled, penalties will not be assessed. This is stated in Article 329 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

The lender may demand payment of a legal penalty even though the borrower does not agree with its amount. According to Russian legislation, the amount of the penalty may increase by agreement of the parties. If the amount of the penalty is unreasonably inflated, the debtor has the right to petition for its reduction. Often the debtor's claim is satisfied in this case.

What kind of penalty is there?

When concluding a loan agreement with a client, the bank itself chooses what type of penalty will apply to the client: fixed or percentage. To do this, the bank will first calculate all possible developments of the situation and choose the option that turns out to be the most profitable. The fixed amount of the penalty is expressed in a certain amount for each day of delay, and interest is charged on the amount of the principal debt or on the amount of the remaining debt.

• Test;
• Penalty;
• Alternative;
• Exceptional.

Coverage by the debtor of all losses, plus liquidated damages, is the most common form required by the creditor.

A penalty implies that, in addition to repaying his debts, fines, penalties, the borrower is also obliged to cover all losses of the creditor, which were caused to the latter by the borrower’s untimely fulfilled obligations. This type of penalty is used in particularly severe cases, for example, when there has been a significant breach of contract.

An exceptional penalty frees the borrower from compensating the lender for losses - only the principal amount of the debt, interest and the fines themselves are paid.

An alternative type of penalty allows the lender to punish the borrower by obliging him to either cover all losses or pay one large fine. Before a final decision is made, the lender, together with lawyers, calculates the most profitable option.

How is the penalty calculated and is it worth paying off?

Despite the fact that all banks calculate the penalty differently, the essence of this procedure is the same: next month you will pay, in addition to the amount of the principal payment and interest, also the amount of the accrued penalty. If missing a payment was a one-time omission, then it won’t hurt your pocket. But what if you haven’t paid your loan for a year? Taking the size of the fine as 1% as a basis, it is easy to calculate that for a year it comes out to 365%. And that’s just one penalty...

Keep in mind that when you start repaying the loan a year later, the penalty debt will be paid off first, and the principal amount of the debt and its interest will remain unpaid again. It turns out to be a vicious circle. This tricky clause is necessarily spelled out in every loan agreement and almost no one pays attention to it.

When the bank begins to put pressure, and attempts to prove your case are unsuccessful, it is necessary to write a statement with a pre-trial claim, where it will be considered, and both parties will be invited to a meeting to resolve all disagreements.

Keep in mind that if the testator dies, all responsibilities for repaying the loan will pass to the heirs. But if the bank has every right to demand the return of the loan itself, then the collection of penalties and fines is a controversial issue. The fact is that the right of inheritance can be entered into after six months from the date of death of the main borrower. It is logical that all debts are transferred to the heirs also after this period. But banks do not always adhere to this rule and begin to put pressure on grieving relatives from the first days.

Sometimes it happens differently: the bank is not aware that the borrower has died, but is aware that the loan is not being repaid. During this period, a penalty is undoubtedly accrued, which is also inherited. Also, banks do not hesitate to charge fines during that six-month period in which, in essence, the loan is simply “hanging in the air” - the main borrower has died and the heirs have not yet taken over the obligations. Undoubtedly, these points must be discussed in court, appealing to the fact that the borrower did not pay the loan not because he was irresponsible, but because he died, and you, as the heir, did not know about the existence of the loan. The second important point is to voice out loud that you will not dispute the debt and agree to pay it in full, while asking to cancel all penalties and fines that were assessed due to the current tragic circumstances.

Is it possible to reduce the amount of the penalty?

Download a sample petition to reduce the loan penalty:

Yes, it is possible and necessary. Because the amount of penalties sometimes exceeds all permissible standards. Russian courts have repeatedly encountered cases in which the bank was required to pay fines that were tens of times greater than the loan itself.

A reduction in the penalty is possible only after a court decision. No one has ever been able to reach an agreement with a bank on their own.

This is what it says about the collection of penalties under a loan agreement: according to Art. 333 of the Civil Code, disproportionately inflated fines are subject to reduction, and at the discretion of the court itself. On the one hand, this contradicts the arbitration rules that only at the initiative of the debtor (or, which happens much less frequently, the creditor) can the amount of the penalty be reduced. But on the other hand, having compared all the facts and seen obvious discrepancies in the amounts of the penalty, the misdemeanor does not have the right to satisfy the creditor’s demands in full. The reasons for this are:

• inflated percentage of penalties;
• short period of non-fulfillment of obligations;
• discrepancy between the amount of damages received and the amount of the penalty.

Since the penalty is a measure of compensation, it must be proportional to the losses received. However, the Civil Code states that the court does not have the right to require evidence from the creditor of what his losses were. At the same time, the law does not exclude the right of a judge to conduct research to determine the proportionality of losses and fines. Thanks to this, many cases were won.

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Problems associated with delays in loan payments arise much more often than we think. Even if it happened for completely objective and documented reasons, fines often have to be paid, and sometimes very significant ones. We will tell you below how to avoid this unpleasant circumstance and what to do if a fine or penalty has already been charged.

Few people, when applying for a loan, carefully, even meticulously, study all the numerous points in the concluded agreement. Most often, the agreement is drawn up in a language that is difficult to understand, with numerous legal terms, so our citizens, without reading it, simply put their signature at the bottom, which obviously ensures themselves decent debts. In addition, people most often view the prospects for their income positively, without even realizing that they face the unpleasant prospect of paying debts and fines.

Below we will discuss the fines and penalties that are generally applied by most banks to their borrowers. According to the law, a bank loan is provided subject to payment of the loan within the period specified in the agreement, payments are made in accordance with the schedule attached to it. Any loan agreement has a clause that details liability; it is included in the event of any violation of this schedule. It happens that the fine is an amount predetermined by the contract; it increases as there are no current payments, but most often the fine is calculated as a percentage for the days of delay. For example:

Let's say, in the case of accrual of fines on an increasing scale, the first time it can be only fifty rubles, the second already five hundred rubles, and the third - a thousand.

Be careful when concluding a loan agreement

When concluding a loan agreement, first of all, ask the loan specialist to indicate where in the document the clause that refers to the violation of payment terms. Read it very carefully. You must understand what exactly is an actual delay under this agreement, what fines and penalties will be applied in case of late payment. If you could not understand everything on your own, ask for clarification, this is your right. Absolutely all existing types of loans that are provided to citizens today, for example

• Mortgage credit lending;
• Loan to purchase a car;
• Overdraft;
• Consumer loan,

imply that the contract will be standard. Loan agreements are not tailored to the vision and needs of each client, so you just have to agree or not. If the conditions do not suit you, you will probably have to choose another bank.

What other fines should you be wary of?

Sometimes a loan agreement may provide for special circumstances for which special penalties may be imposed. For example, this could be compulsory property or life insurance for the entire term of the actual loan. Under this condition, if you do not insure yourself, you may not only be fined, but even have the contract terminated completely. Most often, the above clause of the agreement is found when lending a mortgage, when buying a car on credit.

Sometimes the bank imposes a fine for the fact that the borrower does not maintain the minimum (determined by the agreement) balance of funds in his account. Such a fine should mainly be feared by those who own a credit card. If your account does not have an amount equal to the minimum monetary limit established by the agreement, you will be forced to pay a fine to the bank. Also, credit card owners should beware, as mentioned above, of imposing a fine (commission) for early repayment of the loan.

Often, when concluding contracts for a mortgage or purchasing a car, banks often require timely provision of the latest information about what the borrower’s current income is. As a rule, this is a certificate in Form 2 of Personal Income Tax, but sometimes you need to fill out a special form from the bank. If the borrower does not bring the certificate on time, he will eventually be fined for this.

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Sometimes a fine is imposed for concealing or untimely notification of a financial institution (bank) that your contact information that was specified in the agreement when it was concluded has changed.

How to try to reduce fines and penalties

If you are already behind on your loan, try to pay at least the interest. In any case, no matter how large the debt, make interest payments, and only then the debt itself. Otherwise, the amount of the fine or penalty will grow quickly.

It is extremely important to save all receipts, every cash receipt, until the entire loan is paid in full. Otherwise, you will not be able to demonstrate to the bank that you paid on time when any unfavorable circumstances occur.

If the bank has not yet sued you for late payments, do not wait in horror for such a outcome, but try to resolve your issue on a contractual basis. Let's say you can't repay your loan. In this case, write a letter to the bank in which you state in detail and thoughtfully why you cannot repay the loan, and be sure to indicate in it when you will start making payments. Ask for a reduction in the accrued fines, feel free to state in a letter all the circumstances that can play in your favor in a positive way.

All such letters must be written in two copies, you will give one letter to the bank employee, and on the second he will put his signature and the number by which your letter is registered in the incoming mail. When your letter is registered, the bank will be obliged to respond to you one way or another within a calendar month, and not look for verbal excuses.

If the bank manager refused to accept the letter (and this happens), then go to the post office and send a letter with notification. Be sure to make an inventory; it must be kept, as well as a receipt stating that the letter was sent by you. Very often the bank makes concessions, and as a result

1. your fines will be reduced;
2. You will only repay a certain portion of the entire loan;
3. You will be allowed to continue paying as before.

Under any circumstances, everything must be stated in writing; oral agreements have no legal force.

You can sue the bank

If, despite all your efforts, you were unable to reach an agreement with the bank, do not wait for a subpoena. Take it to court yourself.

In the articles of the Civil Code of Russia there is a legal way out for defaulters: article number 333. It states that if the amounts of fines are completely disproportionate to the actual consequences of the fact that your financial obligations of banks are violated, then they can not only be reduced, but even completely written off.