UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 1, 2019. Starting July 1, a new universal upper limit on the amount of debt one can have on loans with the repayment period of under 1 year comes into effect in Russia. Fines, loan interest, and other payments relating to this loan type must not exceed the principal debt amount itself by more than two times, the Bank of Russia’s Ural division’s PR Department reports.

If someone takes out a loan for RUB 15,000, for example, they will have to pay back no more than RUB 45,000 (RUB 15,000 would be the principal debt amount and RUB 30,000 would come from fines and penalties). No extra fines or interest can get charged once their overall amount comes to twice the principal debt amount, the department explains.

Now the upper limit in question was set at 2.5 times on January 28, 2019 and will go down to 1.5 times on January 1, 2020.

Additionally, the maximum daily interest rate on a loan goes from 1.5% down to 1% a day on July 1, 2019.

All the changes apply to loans taken out on July 1, 2019 and on, the Bank of Russia says.