Ukrainian refugees complained to RT that banks continue to send them SMS demanding payments on loans.
Such reports say that by paying off debts, people are “helping Ukraine.”
“My parents, who left Mariupol, were called and demanded money.
They didn’t pay anything - this is some kind of blasphemy, people are being fired at there, and banks are demanding money.
As soon as people have enough conscience!”
- RT interlocutor Ulyana is indignant (name changed at the request of the woman).
It turned out that the same situation was in 2014: banks wrote to people in the shelled areas, demanding to return the money.
Some were even threatened with collectors - then these statements caused only bewilderment among the addressees.
“They called me in Donetsk.
We had a loan there for 1200 hryvnias, I say: “Come and pick it up, I’m ready to pay,” recalls one of the readers of RT.
“I remember in 2014 they called me in Slavyansk.
Here the shelling goes on, and they threaten me with collectors ... I remember telling them to come, I'm waiting for them.
They didn’t bother anymore, ”says another RT reader.
"Help to the financial front of Ukraine"
Initially, RT learned about the requirements for payments on loans from Ukrainian banks from Sergei Lusevich, a 47-year-old resident of Mariupol.
Last week Sergey and his wife Oksana managed to leave Mariupol.
The couple made it to Rostov-on-Don in Russia and from there made their way to Moscow, where their relatives live.
On the way, Sergei and Oksana finally got a mobile connection, which had not been in Mariupol for more than a month.
And then they received messages from the Ukrainian Taskombank demanding to make payments on a loan that the spouses took before the special operation to buy household appliances.
“Despite the current situation, the banking sector continues to work.
By making a monthly payment on the loan, you are providing significant assistance in maintaining the financial front of Ukraine, ”the SMS messages of Taskombank, which Lusevich received, say.
Sergei was outraged by such messages.
Moreover, he would not have been able to make a payment on the loan in any case: in Mariupol there was no electricity and communication for this, and Russian ATMs simply do not read his card.
He cannot withdraw cash from her, and it is impossible to exchange them for rubles in Russia.
The couple spent the last hundred on the train from Rostov to Moscow - they bought two cups of tea from the conductor.
By the way, management companies in Mariupol, according to Lusevich, also did not stop writing off money for utilities (which were absent due to hostilities).
Sergei finally gave up on this - he doubts that he and his wife will be able to return to Mariupol in the near future: "Let him save up."
No electricity, no communication
At the time of the outbreak in Mariupol, Sergei and his wife were in their apartment on the ground floor of a house located near the Metro shopping center, which later became a distribution point for humanitarian aid.
Despite the fact that the buildings in the district were damaged, not a single shell hit Sergei's house.
Nevertheless, the couple had a hard time: due to the lack of communication, they could not call relatives living in the neighboring area of the city to find out how they were doing.
Shots were fired in the area of Sergei and Oksana, so there was no electricity, no water, no heating at home.
Beha's sphinx kept them warm at night.
Cats of this breed are so heat exchanged that they always maintain a body temperature above 39 ° C, the couple explained.
“We hugged Beha together in a dream - and did not freeze at night.
Of course, they took the cat with them.
On the way, she broke her face in a carrier, but now everything is fine with her, ”says Lusevich’s wife.
Despite the difficulties experienced, the spouses try to maintain a positive attitude.
Sergey, for example, told an RT correspondent with a laugh how he and his wife cooked soup on the street.
“We took food in the store, we were allowed to pick up a little.
Only there weren’t really any products: beet (beets) and noodles.
So they cooked on a fire near the entrance, imagine, borscht with noodles.
I have never eaten such borscht before, ”recalls Sergey.
Considering the conditions in which they had to live in Mariupol, the man is even more perplexed how Ukrainian banking organizations have the conscience to demand repayment of loans from clients.
“There are shellings in the city, people have lost everything - there is no water, no heat, not even electricity and communications, someone has lost their homes, loved ones, and they are required to repay the loan,” the man is indignant.
"Banks want their money back"
Political scientist Dmitry Kulikov, in an interview with RT, explained that there is nothing unusual in such messages from Ukrainian banks - they simply pursue financial gain.
“Banks in this case are chasing money, that’s all,” Kulikov stated.
Sergei Krylov, lawyer and CEO of the League for the Protection of Loan Debtors, agrees with him.
According to him, now banks are not guided by morality, but just want to get their money back.
“The logic of the banks is this: now the country is having a hard time, we want to get our money,” the expert explained.
“But people who come from Ukraine are now worried not about how to pay off Ukrainian banks, but about how, here in Russia, they can earn enough money to maintain a normal standard of living.
And they should definitely not think about old loans, because, in my opinion, we will not return to this issue of debt collection very soon.”
The interlocutor of RT added that in the future, loans from refugees who left the country may become the subject of lawsuits in Ukraine, but it is not clear how the recovery of funds will be carried out in this case.
“No one understands how such decisions will be implemented.
To be executed, you must contact our collection services, FSSP.
And as far as I understand, we don’t have any diplomacy now, so there simply won’t be an actual penalty.
Well, these court decisions will hang somewhere in Ukraine - and that’s it, ”concluded Krylov.
RT called the Tuscombank hotline.
The operator stated that martial law is now in effect and until the end of April, penalties and fines for late payments on loans are not charged.
But at the same time, she noted that the Mariupol residents would not be forgiven the debt, and advised them to still make the due contributions.