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2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
For carelessness, you will have to answer with a ruble.
What are hidden fees
These are additional fees charged by credit institutions. At their expense, banks and microfinance organizations are trying to compensate for losses when concluding agreements with an interest rate that is attractive for the client (and less profitable for the bank).
It is impossible not to indicate them in the documents, since in this case the court will take the side of the consumer during the proceedings. Therefore, organizations go to the trouble of getting the client to sign on the pages with the desired text. To do this, they, for example, write disadvantageous conditions in small print.
What the fine print can hide
Interest rate change
By law, the bank is prohibited from unilaterally changing the terms of the loan agreement. But he can change the interest rate in cases specified in the contract. The reasons for this should be clearly stated, they may depend on the action or inaction of the client.
For example, if you were given a mortgage at a reduced rate while having title insurance, not renewing it could affect the percentage.
Be sure to check if the contract contains conditions for increasing the interest rate.
Fines and penalties
These are common tools for influencing customers who do not fulfill the terms of the contract and are late with payments. Therefore, the presence of penalties in the documents does not surprise anyone. But it is worth paying attention to the nuances.
The contract may state that fines are levied in priority order over debt. If you do not track this moment, there is a risk that your next loan payment, made on time, will go to a penalty. At the same time, your debt will grow, and the amount of penalties will become even greater.
A separate topic is the amount of fines. This can be a fixed amount, an increased interest on arrears, or a percentage of the remaining debt. Obviously, the amounts vary considerably.
Microfinance organizations are now actively using fines as a tool for earning money. Since 2017, the interest they charge cannot exceed three times the amount owed. There are no restrictions on fines, which is what MFIs use.
Check under what conditions and how much you can be fined.
Insurance
Life and health insurance of the borrower, and in the case of mortgages and real estate - can significantly reduce the interest rate on the loan. But getting a policy is a voluntary action that the bank has no right to impose. The institution also cannot oblige to insure only through it, the consumer chooses a company from organizations accredited by the bank.
The difference in the price of the policy can be significant. In addition, insurance from a bank is often issued for the entire term of the loan and is added to it, and if the client refuses to renew the policy, the organization changes the interest rate.
Find out in advance how much the policy will cost in different insurance companies.
Commission for additional services
For the very issuance of a loan, its maintenance and support of the transaction, the bank should not take a commission, since these are mandatory actions for fulfilling an agreement with a client. The recipients of the borrowed funds easily disputed the legitimacy of such levies 4-5 years ago.
But for additional services, a commission may be assigned. For example, the bank will send you monthly statements, remind you when the due date is approaching, and so on. It is also common to issue an invoice for issuing and servicing a credit card, for cash withdrawals. If in the end you look at the total loan amount, it may turn out that it is cheaper to contact a bank with higher interest rates, but no commissions.
Pay attention to the details of payments and be interested in every incomprehensible number.
The right to sell debt
If the agreement contains a line about the bank's right to sell your debt, then in case of delay, the financial institution can transfer it to the collectors. At first glance, this is not really about hidden fees. However, a close acquaintance with representatives of a dubious collection agency will lead to additional payments and damage.
Find out if the bank can sell your debt.
Why not only small print is dangerous
The danger can lie not only in the small print. Banks and other contracting organizations use it less and less.
Firstly, many customers are aware of the purpose of small print, so its presence immediately looks suspicious: it is unlikely that the company is simply saving paper by printing tiny letters. As a result, borrowers focus on the fine print, skimming over the rest of the contract. And banks use it.
Institutions use a simple rule: it is better to hide a branch in the forest, and hidden payments in a typical text. Therefore, large letters must also be read.
Secondly, the institution can be punished for the abuse of small print, and the change in legislation in general is aimed at increasing the transparency of documents.
For example, in loan agreements on the first page, large and in a rectangular frame should be indicated the full amount that the client is to return to the credit institution. Moreover, the size of the frame should be at least 5% of the page area.
The consumer is also guarded by Rospotrebnadzor, where they turn with complaints about unreadable text. By law, the client has the right to receive comprehensive information about the subject of the contract. The department refers to SanPiN "Hygienic requirements for book publications for adults", the provisions of which determine the readability of the text.
There are precedents for prosecution. So, at the end of 2017, Citibank was fined for a violation in the Sverdlovsk region. The consumer was given an agreement for a credit card, in which the information was indicated in small print that the organization could change the terms of its use.
In addition, in recent years, the deputies have repeatedly put forward the idea of completely banning the fine print in contracts.
But this means only one thing: those who want to mislead the client will act even more sophisticated.
This means that the contract must be read in its entirety, better - with a lawyer. Moreover, you need to scrupulously study not only the documents for a loan, but also any papers that you have to sign.
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