July 2, 2014. The Consumer Lending Act that came into effect on July 1, 2014 could improve the quality of Russian borrowers, the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Lending Services Director Svetlana Davydova said at a press conference.

According to Ms Davydova, the new law resulted in significant changes in the way loans are issued to private individuals; the banks’ ways of resorting to non-transparent lending schemes have been limited as well.

‘Under the new law, the borrowing party can now spend at least five days thinking of whether to sign the lending contract. This is an essential measure for protecting consumers against supposedly super-profitable offers that have to be agreed to at once,’ Davydova believes.

Besides, any small print or unique-to-the-case provisos must disappear from lending contracts altogether. At the same time, all banks must now use standard agreement forms that will set out all the lending terms and conditions in an identical manner. The upper right corner of the first page of the contract must have the total cost of the loan stated in it.