Debts for the light in credit history: what will be affected by the transfer of payment data?

Ukraine’s Credit History Bureau will soon begin receiving data from customers of the company Kyiv Energy Services (YASNO) who are in debt. As explained in the company, as of May 1, 2023, household consumers have accumulated debt for more than a month for the electricity they consume, amounting to more than UAH 1.7 billion. To motivate customers to pay more responsibly, YASNO will periodically transmit information about household customers’ debts to the office. This is covered in a new article. Focus “Bad reputation. How does electricity debt affect credit history and what to do about it?”

According to Nikolay Maksimov, lawyer of the RIYAKO & PARTNERS Law Firm, the Ukrainian law “On the organization of the formation and circulation of credit histories” does not directly provide for such a function as data entry for electricity (heat, water) suppliers. customer debts to credit history. But there is no prohibition on this either, ie the lawyer concludes that his credit history may contain data on electrical energy debts.

Focus I asked bank professionals what information about the overdue payments in the customer’s credit history could affect them. Experts said that such customers are less likely to get a loan.

“I think the impact will be quite serious, especially for people with no credit history. So far, lenders have been wary of such borrowers. At the same time, understanding the debtor’s careful compliance with the discipline of paying their electricity bills can tell a lot about him. On the contrary, the large accumulated municipal debt will most likely eliminate the possibility of obtaining a loan,” said Yury Melnichuk, a member of the board of directors of Unex Bank. But probably a small amount of debt is unlikely to affect anything, according to the expert. But if the client has accumulated more than 20,000 UAH, the bank will consider it too risky to give him a loan.

“The presence of any negative information in a customer’s credit history, including debts on electricity bills, will affect the lending decision,” says Olga Sokolova, head of retail risk at Raiffeisen Bank.

According to Sergey Ilyuchenko, Director of the Credit Risk Control Department of OTP Bank Retail Business, The bank’s decision will be affected not only by the amount of the electricity debt, but also by the time the customer has accumulated such a debt. And banks can carefully examine loan applications of more than 1000 UAH from customers who owe more than 3 months of electricity.

Evgeny Zamotaev, head of retail trade at Globus Bank, also believes that the bank will look at the amount of debt and when the debt has accumulated. “The psychological factor in decision making is also important: let’s say a person lost his home for certain reasons, and utilities created a debt dispute by continuing to accrue amounts due. At the same time, each bank sets its own parameters, therefore, so to speak, “critical debt”. If a potential borrower does not pay bills for more than 6 months, then the loan of such a citizen will most likely be refused.“, – says Evgeny Zamotaev.

Recall that in Ukraine financial companies plan to limit microcredit rates at the legislative level. Currently, it’s on average 1500% per year.

Previously Focus He reported that Ukraine continues to block funds in bank accounts that have been arrested due to enforcement proceedings.