From March 1, 2025, Russians will be able to officially prohibit themselves from taking out loans. The law on this on Tuesday, February 20, was adopted by the State Duma in the second and third readings.

The initiative will allow each person to set a limit in their credit history on the issuance of loans by banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs). The ban will not apply only to mortgages, car loans and educational loans under state support.

“The adoption of the law will give citizens the opportunity to further protect themselves from fraudsters who issue loans and microloans in someone else’s name, using stolen or fraudulently obtained personal data,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the Lower House of Parliament.

To set a restriction, you only need to fill out a template application. This can be done either electronically through the State Services portal or by personally contacting the MFC (this option will appear only from September 1, 2025).

“Information about self-ban... will be entered into the credit history within a day if the credit bureau received the corresponding application before 22:00 Moscow time, and if later, then on the next calendar day. Thus, the ban begins to take effect the next day after information about it is included in the credit history of an individual,” the State Duma explained.

It is noteworthy that the conditions of the restrictions may vary: by type of lender (bank or microfinance organization) and by the method of obtaining a loan (in the office or remotely). This was reported by the Central Bank.

“A person will be able to cancel the self-ban at any time if he really wants to get a loan or a loan. The ban will be lifted one day after the relevant information is added to the citizen’s credit history. This cooling period will help people make a more informed decision about the need to get a loan or a loan,” the Central Bank added.

To cancel, a person will also need to submit an application. Moreover, the service itself of establishing or lifting a self-ban on loans will be free and unlimited in the number of requests, the Central Bank emphasized.

As the press service of the Central Bank told RT, today in Russia there are only local restrictions on issuing loans, when the banks themselves offer such a service to their clients within the framework of one specific financial institution. At the same time, it is now quite difficult to completely prohibit the issuance of loans for yourself or for another person, noted Olga Lebedinskaya, associate professor of the Department of Statistics of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

“To achieve such a complete self-prohibition, today you need to go to court and establish a restriction on a citizen’s legal capacity. This, in turn, requires compelling reasons, such as a mental disorder or addiction, confirmed by a medical examination,” explained RT’s interlocutor.

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In addition, Russians have the opportunity to write an application to the bank and refuse the loan if, for example, the loan was issued without the knowledge of the client or under pressure from criminals. At the same time, banks or microfinance organizations do not always meet victims of fraud, so the authorities decided to take measures to protect citizens, Vyacheslav Putilovsky, director of bank ratings at the Expert RA agency, told RT.

“Today, a Russian must prove that the loan was issued without his knowledge, and he did not actually receive the money. This is a rather lengthy, costly and labor-intensive process. At the same time, it is not profitable for the bank to meet the client halfway, since writing off the loan means additional costs for companies, so they try to recover the money they issued as much as possible,” the specialist explained.

As part of the innovations, after a citizen places a ban on issuing loans, for example, through the Gosuslugi portal, information about this will automatically begin to flow into all qualified credit history bureaus (KBKI), Alexey Voylukov, vice president of the Association of Russian Banks, told RT. If, despite the restrictions, the creditor still issues a loan, he will not be able to demand repayment of the debt from the client.

“Before issuing a loan, the bank requests information from KBKI, and if at the time of issuing the loan the borrower has a ban, then the bank should not issue the loan. If the loan is issued and the borrower does not agree with it, then the bank is obliged to stop all collections from the borrower,” the specialist explained.