In the last few days, angry foreign currency borrowers have become active. Every day they storm bank offices. blocking roads and staging other protests. Let's figure out who is to blame, and whether we should feel sorry for those who once took out a mortgage in dollars.

As Putin likes to say, let's separate the flies from the cutlets. Russia has serious problems with the financial literacy of the population. A large percentage of our citizens, due to a lack of basic knowledge, constantly find themselves in some kind of trouble. You can start with the same financial pyramids in the 90s, and end with microloans today. Formally, no one deceives a person, but the state must inform its citizens about the real risks. Why do they tell me every day about the dangers of smoking, but no one tells me that taking out a loan in foreign currency is very dangerous?

In 2007, I was going to buy an apartment with a mortgage. I collected all the documents, then went to VTB Bank, where I was offered two options: the first was to take out a loan in rubles with an interest rate of 14 (I don’t remember exactly, but about that); the second is to take it in dollars at a rate of about 10% (maybe even less). The manager printed out two payment options and said: “In the first option, you will overpay almost twice as much for the apartment, since the percentage is high, but the second option, of course, is more profitable! Look, the overpayment is small, and besides, the ruble is now very stable, constantly growing, it will even be more profitable for you if you earn in rubles!”.

The ruble really grew in 2007, the exchange rate was about 24 rubles. A loan in dollars seemed much more attractive, especially since in 2007 there was a complete feeling that everything would be fine. What happened next, you know well. Fortunately, I didn’t take out a loan then and refused to buy an apartment. But I understand well those people who took out loans. The temptation was great.

Today people take to the streets and demand help. I understand them, but I don't support them.

When a person took out a mortgage in foreign currency, he wanted to save money. This is a natural desire. But saving can't just happen. In the case of a foreign currency loan, as compensation for a low interest rate, a person faced serious risks of a collapse of the ruble. Could he have imagined that the ruble would collapse? This is a philosophical question. Some took risks, others did not take risks. In any case, it was a deliberate decision. Taking out a mortgage is not like playing thimbles on the street. This is a long process of approvals and consultations; it took me several months. You consult with people, weigh all the risks, after all, you accept financial obligations for 15-30 years. So most borrowers were well aware of the risks and consciously took them upon themselves.

Today, foreign currency borrowers are demanding that the state help them. I have a question: why should the state help them? That is, I am not against the state helping its citizens. But why should it help specifically those who once decided to save money on buying an apartment?

Millions of people suffered from the fall of the ruble. Some lost their jobs, some lost their business. Many people have nothing to feed their families, nothing to pay off loans (both in rubles and in foreign currency). And here foreign currency borrowers come out and demand that the old exchange rate be returned to them! Hey, I also want the old exchange rate, give me back, if not 35 rubles, but at least 41 per dollar!

According to foreign currency borrowers, the state should take taxpayers' money and help them repay the loan. Why does this come in handy? Why are they better than others? It is also stupid to demand anything from banks. A bank is a commercial organization. It works within the framework of the law, issues loans, and earns money from it. It is completely incomprehensible why a bank should feel sorry for borrowers. Of course, in some cases, he can soften his attitude towards a particular borrower and somehow restructure his debt, but not out of pity, but in order to get at least something.

It’s a pity for the people who ended up with this foreign currency mortgage, but people should be responsible for their decisions and not terrorize banks.

Foreign currency borrowers became victims of party and government policies. Don't like the policies of the party and government, which led to the collapse of the ruble? Change the party and government. That's why there are elections. State Duma elections will take place in September this year, and presidential elections in 2018. Read the candidates' economic programs, ask questions and choose those who can boost the country's economy. Take part in the political life of the country, go to the polls.

Yes, it’s not as fast and fun as terrorizing banks and throwing coffins into the river. But it will be useful.

And now a detailed analysis of the problem:

1. Who does the media call with this phrase?

In particular, Russians who took out mortgage loans in foreign currency from banks when the ruble was still strong and stable. In general, all holders of foreign currency loans. Lately, the former is usually meant.

2. Why do people take loans in foreign currency?

In order to economize. In Russia, the mortgage rate on a ruble loan starts at 12%, and this is still a good option (for comparison, in godless Europe it starts at 2% and averages around 4%). Accordingly, if you take out a loan for several decades, as many families do, the overpayment turns out to be gigantic. But in pre-crisis times, Russians had a choice: they could take out a mortgage loan in foreign currency. The rate on it was about one and a half times lower, and with a successful combination of circumstances, the overpayment was also small.

3. What happened?

4. What happened to mortgages?

They have risen in price sharply. Since most Russians, including most borrowers, receive their salaries in rubles, and they need to repay their loans in dollars or euros, the fall in the ruble exchange rate has become a real disaster for them. Someone owes the bank more than the apartment they bought with a mortgage now costs.

5. When did this become obvious?

Quite a long time ago. This topic has been vigorously discussed since the beginning of 2015, and then the ruble exchange rate, as you remember, was significantly higher than the current one.

6. Why is everyone talking about this only now?

Due to the actions of borrowers who attracted attention to the problem with bright promotions.

7. What do foreign currency borrowers want?

Justice (in their understanding). Back in February 2015, bank clients wrote an open letter to Putin, in which they stated that they were “the first to take the blow of economic sanctions and political intrigues of the West.” They demanded equal rights for owners of foreign currency and ruble loans. This, in their opinion, could be done by passing a law obliging banks to convert foreign currency loans into rubles at the official exchange rate of the Central Bank on the date of conclusion of the agreement.

In this case, foreign currency borrowers would be able to repay the debt at the “old” rate. Some could even expect obvious benefits: for example, people who took out a mortgage at the beginning of 2008 could pay off their foreign currency debt to the bank based on the exchange rate of 24 rubles per $1.

8. What is the scale of the problem?

Authorities say only 2,000 people are in difficult situations. The borrowers themselves claim that there are 70 thousand of them.

9. How did the authorities react?

The State Duma did not consider the bill on converting foreign currency loans into rubles at the exchange rate on the date of the agreement. But the Central Bank recommended that banks convert foreign currency loans into rubles at the exchange rate as of October 1, 2014, which amounted to 39.38 rubles/dollar.

10. What did Putin say?

In short, it’s “our own fault.” According to the president, the owners of foreign currency mortgages themselves took on the risks of exchange rate differences, so the “philosophy of assistance” for them should be the same as in the case of ruble borrowers.

11. What did the banks do?

Nothing. The authorities promised banks to subsidize losses from such conversion, but nothing was done during the year.

12. What did the borrowers do?

Organized a series of protests:

Foreign currency mortgage holders held a flash mob at the Delta Credit bank opposite the Kremlin. At the entrance they threw stacks of replies received from the Central Bank in response to complaints. The action was planned near the Central Bank building on Neglinnaya, but the gathering place was blocked by the police. The borrowers quickly changed the location of the flash mob, and the security forces did not have time to react. There are no detainees.

Photo: page "All-Russian Movement of Currency Borrowers" on Facebook

Shares of foreign currency mortgage borrowers on Red Square

Freedom march against currency and mortgage slavery

In Moscow, foreign currency mortgage borrowers began a collective hunger strike. At first six people took part in the action, then other borrowers joined them. The hunger strike took place in a residential basement in Sredny Tishinsky Lane. The main demand of the hungry is “an early legislative solution to restructure foreign currency mortgages in rubles.”

Foreign currency borrowers in Moscow held a car rally and a protest in front of the Central Bank building. The column's route covered the buildings of the State Duma, the Kremlin and the Russian Presidential Administration. At the Central Bank, activists stacked tires with slogans written on them. As one of the rally participants said, “the tires aren’t burning yet, but the people are already on the edge.”

June, 2015

Negotiations with banks and pickets demanding that loans be restructured led nowhere, so foreign currency mortgage holders began to go to court. As of June 26, 904 lawsuits were filed in court against the Government and the Central Bank. The main requirement is to recognize as illegal “inaction, expressed in the lack of protection and ensuring the stability of the ruble within the framework of a unified state financial, credit and monetary policy, and to oblige to eliminate the violation of rights and freedoms.”

July, 2015

Russian banks are massively suing foreign currency borrowers demanding repayment of debts. “Today, there are already about 500 lawsuits in Russia regarding foreign currency mortgages. It is worth understanding that this is just the beginning. Now summer is the holiday season, so the banks are not going on the offensive yet. We expect a boom in claims in September.",” commented Irina Safyanova, official representative of the All-Russian Association of Currency Borrowers.

She added that the courts “turned their backs on the borrowers,” siding with Russian banks. According to her, the most “predatory” is Raiffeisenbank, which filed 250 lawsuits in Moscow courts, 70 of which were against foreign currency borrowers. “Often the currency trader does not even receive a subpoena, which is a violation of procedural rules. In Moscow, about 15 apartments have already been taken away from currency traders.”, noted Safyanova.

In St. Petersburg, near the building of the North-Western Main Directorate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on Lomonosov Street, a picket of currency mortgage holders took place. About 30 people gathered there. They held black flags and numerous posters in their hands: “I am not a slave to foreign currency mortgages,” “No to currency genocide,” “Central Bank, return the ruble exchange rate,” “Mortgage is a shame for Russia.” Activists also installed a “tree” near the monument to Emperor Alexander II, which was wrapped in toilet paper with the image of American dollars.

Borrowers held a rally at the Krasnopresnenskaya outpost:

At 5:30 am, foreign currency borrowers lowered 20 coffins with the names of banks into the Moscow River. “With their action, foreign currency mortgage borrowers decided to send banks that do not cooperate halfway into free floating after the ruble. It’s symbolic that this happened on Friday the 13th.”,” said Galina Grigorieva, a representative of the unregistered All-Russian Movement of Currency Borrowers.

On the eve of Vladimir Putin's press conference, foreign currency mortgage holders hung banners with curses against banks and the government over the main highways on the Moscow Ring Road. Attached to some of the banners were effigies depicting hanged men wearing branded T-shirts of foreign currency borrowers “RAB Currency Mortgages.”

The boy Vova recorded a New Year's video message to Putin with a request to equalize all regions of Russia with Crimea, which at the legislative level was allowed to repay foreign currency loans at the rate of March 18, 2014. “We do not demand to forgive our debts, we demand to share risks with banks and the state, since we are not to blame for wars, sanctions, or the changed policies of the Government and the Central Bank. We want to continue to fulfill our obligations, but in a reasonable amount!”– they write in the description of the video.

The Gaidar Forum was held at RANEPA. On the street, foreign currency mortgage holders staged single pickets. Among the posters were the following: “Crimea, whose regions of Russia?” and “State connivance + irresponsibility of banks = ruin of thousands of Russian families.” The forum security dispersed the picketers. As eyewitnesses said, the head of the forum's security swore, insulted the picketers and threatened them with violence. He also stated that he has a ruble mortgage, and foreign currency mortgage holders are themselves to blame.

Borrowers from Delta Credit Bank stormed a branch on Mokhovaya Street. There were about 70 people participating in the protest. One of them handcuffed himself near the entrance to the bank building.

Foreign currency mortgage borrowers of Moskommertsbank held a mass picket near the central office of the credit institution. There were about 45 people at the picket. “We spent two hours on the street, but no one from the management came to us, and in response to our requests to hold a meeting, we were informed that the manager was now at a meeting,” said Olesya Belova, a representative of the initiative group.

Foreign currency mortgage holders, armed with ladle, broke into Raiffeisenbank. The bank's management and employees fled from their places. The protesters shouted chants and promised to stand until the end. A woman in a fur coat demanded that Crimea be returned to Ukraine.

Clients of Delta-Credit Bank tried to block the street in protest against the refusal to recalculate their debt in rubles. There were about 300 of them. The borrowers came out onto the roadway on Tverskaya-Yamskaya in the area of ​​house No. 36. But within 25 minutes the police pushed the dissatisfied people onto the sidewalk. It is reported that mortgage holders brought their children to the rally in prison uniforms.

At the Moskommertsbank office, people with posters demanded to transfer the mortgage from foreign currency to ruble. They are ready to agree to transfer loans into rubles at the rate that was relevant at the time the agreement was concluded, plus 30 percent. “We will block the bank’s work until our demands are met. As much as needed. There are a lot of us", says Sergei Ignatyev, coordinator of the movement of foreign currency borrowers.

In addition, borrowers today staged a picket near the Yar restaurant, where a meeting of the Association of Russian Banks was held. The action was accompanied by chants: “The bank is growing fat, the people are growing sick – let’s stop the lawlessness!”

13. What did the protests lead to?

A year after the issue was raised, the government nevertheless launched a program to support mortgage borrowers. True, it is not about foreign currency loans, but about the restructuring of debts to banks with the help of funds from the Housing Mortgage Lending Agency (AHML)

A total of 4.5 billion rubles were allocated to support borrowers. Russian citizens who have at least one minor child, as well as citizens raising disabled children and military veterans can count on state assistance.

The essence of the support is as follows: the maximum amount of compensation for one restructured mortgage loan from AHML was increased from 200 thousand to 600 thousand rubles, but it cannot exceed 10% of the balance of the principal debt. The second option involves providing assistance for 18 months. In this case, the borrower’s monthly payment can be reduced to 50% of the amount of the planned payment for restructuring, but the total amount of savings cannot exceed 600 thousand rubles.

In addition, some banks agreed to convert foreign currency loans into ruble loans at a preferential rate, but it is still significantly higher than the one recommended by the Central Bank last January. It is not a fact that borrowers will agree to such conditions.

14. What did they say in the Kremlin?

They continue to insist that foreign currency loans are the choice of the borrowers themselves. “Indeed, there are those who found themselves in a very difficult situation. We should not forget that this was the choice and calculation of those people who took on certain obligations precisely on those conditions that now lead to a very difficult situation.”,” said presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov today.

15. Are there any pitfalls in this story?

It couldn't have happened without them. Not all borrowers had a choice when it came to whether to take out a foreign currency loan or a ruble loan. Many banks then promoted foreign currency mortgages, and refused ruble loans due to higher solvency requirements (more details in paragraph 17). “There was no alternative for us. Either a loan in foreign currency or nothing at all,” recalls Irina Safyanova, who bought an apartment in Tsaritsyno in 2008. It is easier for a bank to resell a foreign currency loan. But even in this case, people had a choice - to buy or not to buy an apartment, or to find another bank and take out a loan in rubles.

16. What do crests have there?

The same thing, only the problem was discussed much more actively. At the end of 2014, the Rada tried to introduce a moratorium on the confiscation of housing of debtors on foreign currency loans, but Poroshenko vetoed this bill because it “did not solve the problem comprehensively.”

While the Rada was developing a bill on the restructuring of foreign currency loans, protests began in the country. Since May 2015, a series of “currency Maidans” took place under the building of the Rada, the participants of which, like Russian borrowers, demanded that their loans be converted into national currency at the old rate.

Then there was talk of returning to the rate of 5 hryvnia per $1, with the current price of 20.5 hryvnia per $1 (now the dollar costs almost 25 hryvnia). Naturally, the National Bank of Ukraine opposed such a measure, considering that if all loans provided to individuals in foreign currency were converted into hryvnia at the rate of 5.05 UAH/USD, then the banking system would suffer losses in the amount of about 100 billion UAH.

However, the Rada adopted a mechanism for converting foreign currency loans into hryvnia at the NBU exchange rate on the date of conclusion of the mortgage agreement.

During the fall, several bills were proposed that would oblige banks to use this mechanism. The Rada even accepted one of them, but Poroshenko vetoed it, indicating that if the conversion took place, the banking system would immediately lose 76 billion hryvnia. As a result, the law was repealed two days ago.

17. Let's return to Russia. Who is guilty?

All. Foreign currency borrowers, banks and the Central Bank are jointly responsible for the situation. What does the banks have to do with it, it is clear from point 15: they issued foreign currency loans to many families who were unable to pay in rubles due to the high interest rate and, accordingly, more stringent requirements for solvency. The poorest borrowers - those who took out a mortgage in foreign currency for several decades - were in the worst position.

Moreover, after the crisis of 2008-2009, they already began to pay banks a third more, but they did not allow clients to convert their loans into ruble ones. Due to this policy of banks (high financial requirements for those who want to get a mortgage in rubles), there were only three scenarios for exiting the currency trap.

This is either a significant reduction in the interest rate for ruble mortgages, or a significant increase in the income of the population, and therefore foreign currency borrowers, or a fall in the ruble exchange rate. As you know, events did not develop according to the first or second scenario.

As a result, it turned out that the exchange rate was growing, people continued to pay banks one and a half and two times more, but despite this, they recognized them as not solvent enough to convert a foreign currency mortgage into a ruble one. Since the beginning of 2008, the dollar has tripled in value, and many borrowers now have to pay banks more than 100% of their income.

The problem is that the majority of foreign currency borrowers are families with children, since from the bank’s point of view, the birth of a child means a deterioration in solvency. And this implies the impossibility of converting a mortgage into rubles.

Photo: page

On Thursday at 11:00 a.m. a new picket of the All-Russian Movement of Foreign Currency Borrowers will be held at the Central Bank. After the soaring exchange rate of foreign currencies, thousands of Russians found themselves hostage to their mortgage debts. Among them are large families and single mothers who believed official assurances about the stability of the Russian currency. The Insider spoke with some of them.

Olga Matveeva

“Now I owe the bank almost 2.5 times more than what I took out to buy an apartment”

I have been paying off my mortgage since 2006, which is already the ninth year. The apartment then cost 2.5 million rubles. And now I owe the bank 75 thousand dollars, almost 2.5 times more than what I took to buy an apartment, although I paid everything on time. This month is the first time I will not be able to pay the fee in full. This will be my first delay in 8 years. I live alone with a minor child, I have a 10-year-old son, I work alone in our family. I have nowhere else to get money. I already come home from work at 9, sometimes at 10 pm, and I hardly see the child. Banks are offering us draconian refinancing conditions and we cannot agree to this, because payments will increase significantly.

I have already put the apartment up for sale, but it already costs much less than what I owe the bank, and quite a lot. My apartment will now cost about 3.5 million, and taking into account the fact that it is being sold against a mortgage, it will lose 20 percent in price. Moreover, now during the crisis there are fewer buyers, it will not be so easy to sell.

“The banks themselves imposed foreign currency loans, declaring that it was profitable and that no one would allow a sharp increase in the exchange rate”

With our pickets, we hope to attract the attention of the authorities so that they take part in solving this problem and distribute currency risks proportionally between the bank and the borrower. The fault here clearly does not lie with the borrowers; we are not to blame for the collapse of the ruble. Although the Central Bank now claims that it warned about such risky loans, we do not know who they warned and when. And the banks themselves imposed foreign currency loans, declaring that it was profitable and that no one would allow a sharp increase in the exchange rate. Our income simply did not qualify for a ruble mortgage due to the high interest rate, and this was the only reason why we had to take out a loan in foreign currency.

Alena Popova, public figure

“At the moment, letters and appeals have been sent out and submitted to the State Duma, Tsentrboank, Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation Council. All borrowers negotiate with their banks. What is proposed: freeze the average currency rate, or take the rate at which a person took out a loan and add +15% currency risk - convert into rubles and make a preferential interest rate on the loan (that is, not the same as it will now be for ruble loans 17-25 %). So far, none of the borrowers refuses to pay. But the discussion was stuck with the Central Bank, which did not yet consider it necessary to intervene. At the same time, on the 18th there will be a council on housing and communal services. I spoke with Andrei Shirokov, head of the housing and communal services committee at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry: he will raise this topic at the council. His solution to the issue is to freeze the exchange rate exactly on the day the loan was taken out, and let the state pay off the rest. Because it’s not people’s fault that the economy is in force majeure.”

Today, the Russian economy is at the stage of integration into the world economic system. This explains the need for domestic companies to raise funds in foreign currency. Obtaining loans from foreign organizations is one of the ways to solve this problem.

Who is a borrower?

The borrower is the party in the credit relationship who received the loan and assumed the obligation to repay it within the agreed time frame and pay interest for the period of use of the loan.

Within the framework of credit relations, the same economic entity can act as both a lender and a borrower. If a company receives a loan from a bank, it will be the borrower and the other party will be the lender. But if an organization keeps its funds in a bank, they will act in opposite roles.

Mortgage credit lending

Considering this situation, it is worth highlighting mortgage lending. This is a long-term loan provided by a financial institution to an individual or legal entity. In this case, the object of collateral is necessarily real estate. These can be premises, structures, as well as residential and industrial buildings. It is worth noting that foreign currency mortgage borrowers are persons who have been granted a loan in foreign currency.

The most common use of mortgage lending in Russia is the purchase of real estate by citizens on credit. Basically, the object of collateral is the housing being purchased, but it can also be existing buildings. Real estate provided with a mortgage is registered with the relevant authorities, so foreign currency mortgage borrowers will not be able to sell it before the loan is repaid without performing special actions.

Foreign currency loans for mortgages

In the current economic situation of the state, it is the holders of mortgage loans in foreign currency who find themselves in the most difficult situation. This is due to the fact that most of these citizens receive income in rubles, and the cost of monthly payments in dollars or euros has risen almost several times, which has put a large number of families on the brink of default. The following solutions to the problem are discussed:

• fixing a certain exchange rate;
• introduction of a moratorium on the collection of overdue debts;
• revision of the interest rate on the loan.

It is worth noting that the final decision has not been made, so foreign currency mortgage borrowers are seeking serious action from the state. Every month there are more and more loan debtors, as citizens are not able to make payments on time in large amounts. Among them may be half of the borrowers who borrowed funds in foreign currency. The government must take adequate measures regarding citizens of this category, as the State Duma is preparing to freeze payments. At the same time, the Central Bank proposed to provide assistance to foreign currency borrowers by converting loans in monetary units of other countries into ruble ones, focusing on a specific exchange rate. However, experts say that citizens who took out a loan will have to deal with the consequences themselves without weighing the pros and cons.

Movement of foreign currency mortgage borrowers

At the end of last year, an all-Russian movement of foreign currency mortgage borrowers was formed. This was due to a sharp decline that made it almost impossible to service loans of this type. This movement has the only goal, which is to transfer the balance of loans on terms acceptable to citizens, maximally equalizing payments in foreign currency and rubles.

The all-Russian movement of foreign currency borrowers includes participants who are citizens of the state who took out unprofitable loans at different times. They are represented on various social networks and have their own website. Participants in the movement in question perform certain tasks to the best of their ability. They are:

• participation in various conferences;
• organization of events;
• negotiating with government representatives and financial institutions;
• work with the media.

The All-Russian movement of foreign currency mortgage borrowers involves participation on a voluntary basis. Each of the participants has the right to express their opinion, as well as make constructive proposals that are based on competent argumentation.

How does the society of currency borrowers relate to the authorities?

The society in question emphasizes the absence of political goals, which leaves a loyal attitude to the government as a priority. The all-Russian movement of foreign currency borrowers also follows a consistent approach to achieving an optimal solution to the problem of mortgages in a foreign currency.

When communicating with the media, the movement of foreign currency borrowers does not comment on the country’s foreign policy. In the press there are references to society in the context of state policy, but mostly they are a provocation. Quite often, various trends try to make borrowers their allies as a result of an unstable economic situation.

It is worth noting that the movement of foreign currency borrowers prohibits its participants from illegal actions. Otherwise, they will be personally liable for violating this requirement. For this reason, they will not receive help from society.

Commercial benefit to society

During their existence, foreign currency mortgage borrowers do not derive commercial benefits. Participants, of their own disinterested desire, strive to set real tasks to solve the current problem. Commercialization of activities in any form is a violation of traffic rules.

Solution

A large number of citizens who find themselves in difficult situations are seeking from the government and commercial banks to provide more suitable conditions for repaying loans. Foreign currency borrowers also want mortgage loans not to be issued in foreign currency at this time. The Central Bank also insists on this, but banks continue to provide this service. This is due to the fact that institutions are also facing a crisis and want to make as much profit as possible. Citizens can independently determine how risky it is. At the moment, foreign currency borrowers are hoping for a favorable development of the situation. The number of citizens who take out loans in foreign currency has decreased significantly. This confirms the fact that borrowers weigh the pros and cons when making the right choice.

On Thursday at 11:00 a.m. a new picket of the All-Russian Movement of Foreign Currency Borrowers will be held at the Central Bank. After the soaring exchange rate of foreign currencies, thousands of Russians found themselves hostage to their mortgage debts. Among them are large families and single mothers who believed official assurances about the stability of the Russian currency. The Insider spoke with some of them.

“Now I owe the bank almost 2.5 times more than what I took out to buy an apartment”

I have been paying off my mortgage since 2006, which is already the ninth year. The apartment then cost 2.5 million rubles. And now I owe the bank 75 thousand dollars, almost 2.5 times more than what I took to buy an apartment, although I paid everything on time. This month is the first time I will not be able to pay the fee in full. This will be my first delay in 8 years. I live alone with a minor child, I have a 10-year-old son, I work alone in our family. I have nowhere else to get money. I already come home from work at 9, sometimes at 10 pm, and I hardly see the child. Banks are offering us draconian refinancing conditions and we cannot agree to this, because payments will increase significantly.

I have already put the apartment up for sale, but it already costs much less than what I owe the bank, and quite a lot. My apartment will now cost about 3.5 million, and taking into account the fact that it is being sold against a mortgage, it will lose 20 percent in price. Moreover, now during the crisis there are fewer buyers, it will not be so easy to sell.

“The banks themselves imposed foreign currency loans, declaring that it was profitable and that no one would allow a sharp increase in the exchange rate”

With our pickets, we hope to attract the attention of the authorities so that they take part in solving this problem and distribute currency risks proportionally between the bank and the borrower. The fault here clearly does not lie with the borrowers; we are not to blame for the collapse of the ruble. Although the Central Bank now claims that it warned about such risky loans, we do not know who they warned and when. And the banks themselves imposed foreign currency loans, declaring that it was profitable and that no one would allow a sharp increase in the exchange rate. Our income simply did not qualify for a ruble mortgage due to the high interest rate, and this was the only reason why we had to take out a loan in foreign currency.

We have a VKontakte group “All-Russian Movement of Currency Borrowers”, there are already more than a thousand people in it and new ones join every day, including from the regions. There is also an initiative group that organizes communication with the media, writing collective letters to authorities and holding public events. We help people who join us write letters to banks, and consider ways to solve their problems through the courts.

Yesterday, a group of deputies from “Fair Russia”, led by Oksana Dmitrieva, sent a request to the Central Bank regarding limiting the dollar exchange rate for borrowers like us. That is, we are talking about recalculating the exchange rate either on the date of conclusion of the agreement or on January 1, 2014. Alena Popova also helps us, who passed on our collective request to the deputies along with the signatures that we collected at the first picket. According to her, on December 18 there will be a meeting of the housing and communal services commission, where our problem is on the agenda. On December 29, we are no longer preparing a picket, but a rally on Suvorov Square, an application has already been submitted to the prefecture, but we have not yet received a response.

Elena Balanovskaya

When I took out a loan, I had an income of about 120 thousand rubles and I expected a payment of 2 thousand dollars, then (in the spring) it was 72 thousand rubles. There was a gap of 50 thousand left, which I could realistically live on. We needed an apartment, because then we found out that I was pregnant and it became clear that we needed to somehow accommodate the children, my eldest daughter was already 15, she needed a separate room. I now have three children, this is considered a large family, but this does not mean any discounts on the mortgage, only the Moscow region, where I am registered, pays an additional 3 thousand rubles.

This apartment now has to be rented out in order to somehow pay off part of the loan. You have to live with relatives in a one-room apartment. And even then, it’s not so easy to find a tenant; everyone is facing financial difficulties now. At the same time, we have to pay an additional amount of about 35 thousand rubles in addition to the amount for which we rent it out. Now the rate has increased even more, we will pay more than 40. But now I am on maternity leave, only my husband works for me.

Even if I sell this apartment now, we will not be able to repay a loan of 220 thousand dollars, this (even if calculated at the rate of 62) is almost 14 million, and the bank’s assessment (we have a RESO loan) at the time of buying the apartment in the spring is 12 million

We didn’t even have time to live in this apartment - when I left the maternity hospital, renovations had just been completed. I spent my entire pregnancy doing repairs, because my husband worked, my daughter also worked part-time, my son is still in kindergarten, so with all my strength I had to do the repairs myself. They invested all the money they had saved into the renovation, about a million and a half, they ordered household appliances, a kitchen, they went to pieces, as they say. Over the past two years, I haven’t bought any new things for myself; everything went towards a new apartment. I have already decided that if I have to give it away, I will take everything that we put into it, even to the point that I will also destroy and take away those walls that we put up and painted, I will not leave anything. Because, you know, it’s a shame to tears that I, a pregnant woman, was engaged in all this construction, instead of lying down and taking care of myself.

Sabina

I had a room in a house on Yaroslavskoe Highway, when it was expanded and our houses were demolished, I was paid compensation - 1.2 million. I still had money on hand and we invested in this mortgage. All banks refused me because I was on maternity leave. RESO-Credit told me that they are ready to give a mortgage, but only in dollars. We resisted until the very end, we wanted to take rubles, we even paid the first installment in rubles - 1.2 million, but at the last moment Anna Zeletskaya (the girl who made the deal) told us that we were denied rubles and could only take them in foreign currency . We only succeeded in obtaining a promise that immediately after the conclusion of the contract it would be possible to convert the foreign currency mortgage into a ruble one. But they did not confirm this promise with any documents.

“Now instead of 46 thousand I have to pay 148 thousand. I am a mother of many children, where will we get that kind of money?”

Together with my husband (he earns 65 thousand), we could easily afford loan payments and feed our children. And now instead of 46 thousand I have to pay 148 thousand, imagine. I am a mother of many children, I have not yet returned from maternity leave, where will we get that kind of money? I started contacting our bank six months ago with a request to transfer me to a ruble mortgage, they promised me such an opportunity. And they began to say, “Who promised you?” Now they say that they will transfer it in January, but the dollar has already risen. And there are thousands of people like me in this bank.

And this is how it turns out, I took 151 thousand dollars, have been regularly paying all the payments for a year and a half, and the other day I come to the bank and ask how much is left to pay if I pay off early. They say there are 149 thousand left. That is, it turns out that for all my payments during this time, mine has been reduced for a long time by less than 2 thousand dollars? And this despite the fact that I pay them $1,500 a month!

I already agree to return the apartment to them (it cost 6.5 million) so that they return my down payment - 1.2 million, that is, I’m even ready to give up all the money that I paid them during this time, simply because today I can't pay the fee. But they refuse! Like, I owe them even more! If at the current exchange rate we calculate how much I have to pay them for all the remaining time, we get 33 million rubles! My apartment in Mytishchi doesn’t cost that much, believe me!

I came to the bank, I said, I can’t pay so much now, I haven’t returned from maternity leave yet, and the cashier tells me, “look for a second job, a third job, sell your apartment,” this is what the cashier tells me! But I paid almost three million for this apartment! I have already called all TV channels, no one wants to talk about us. Like, you yourself signed the agreement.

I have already visited more than 10 lawyers, they all say - you will, of course, win the trial, because he always takes the side of the borrower, but this will take many years. Now what should we do then? I also have health problems, they found a cyst in my chest, and if I start to get nervous, I immediately feel bad. Just recently at the bank, too, I felt unwell, they picked me up, took me to their office, gave me water, medicine, and I came to my senses a little.

Today, February 27, 2015, a lawsuit was sent to the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow against the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, prepared by lawyers from the Society for the Protection of Consumer Rights (OCPP), representing the interests of borrowers who received mortgage loans in foreign currency. About one hundred thousand people suffered from foreign currency mortgages in Russia; to defend their rights, people united in the All-Russian Movement of Foreign Currency Borrowers.

The lawsuit demands that the inactions of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, expressed in the lack of protection and stabilization of the ruble exchange rate, be declared illegal.

Let us remind you that according to Art. 3, 34.1 of the Federal Law on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the main goal of the monetary policy of the Bank of Russia is to protect and ensure the stability of the ruble by maintaining price stability, including to create conditions for balanced and sustainable economic growth. According to paragraph 2 of Article 75 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, “protecting and ensuring the stability of the ruble is the main function of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which it carries out independently of other government bodies.” Art. 40 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees everyone the right to housing. However, due to the situation that has developed through no fault of the recipients of foreign currency mortgages, tens of thousands of Russian families may lose their only home.

According to OZPP, the Central Bank, through its inaction, violated the rights of a huge number of families - recipients of foreign currency mortgages. He did not fulfill the requirements of the law and the Constitution regarding the responsibility to protect and ensure the stability of the national currency, in addition, he did not ensure the fulfillment of public promises to maintain the currency corridor.

Currently, tens of thousands of Russians are on the verge of ruin: in the context of a sharp depreciation of the ruble, foreign currency borrowers are faced with the impossibility of paying off their loans in full; some of them may lose their only home.

“It is obvious that consumers were not able to assess these types of risks when they took out loans; they were counting on the Central Bank to protect and ensure the stability of the ruble in full accordance with its main function, as provided for by law,” said Mikhail Anshakov, head of the OPP. .

OZPP believes that the situation in which recipients of foreign currency mortgages find themselves is not a consequence of their personal miscalculation, but is caused solely by miscalculations of the economic policy of the Government of the Russian Federation and the inaction of the Central Bank, which failed to cope with its main function.

“The borrowers relied on the state to fulfill its obligations in relation to maintaining reasonable volatility of the ruble exchange rate, the state is a third party to the agreement. We are ready to bear our risks within the limits of normal volatility, losses beyond this should be covered by the party through whose fault they arose - the state,” believes Irina Safyanova, one of the plaintiffs, a member of the initiative group of the All-Russian Movement of Currency Borrowers.

If the claim is satisfied, consumers at the next stage will be able to individually demand compensation for damage caused from the Central Bank.