Kommersant newspaper relies on some independent experts to claim that bad debt makes up between 15% and 30% of all loans issued by Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd. According to the bank’s official papers drawn up in compliance with the international accounting standards, its bad debt comes to round about 15%; however, according to RusRating, a rating agency, the figure looks more like 30%. Experts believe the proportion of bad debt keeps rising, and banks that offer loans without a collateral of some sort are at risk.

The mass media coverage appears to imply that the major player on the consumer loan market, Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd. has been neglecting the consumers’ rights by misrepresenting information on the actual interest rates, which has led to their clients losing a lot of money. Some analysts say the bank’s actual annual interest rate on a consumer loan may amount to as much as 52% instead of the official 28.5%. According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Russian market’s key players have already managed to raise their profits by one and a half to two times by hiding the real interest rate figures. The same is true of their credit cards: because of all the additional small-print agreements in the contract, an average card holder ends up paying 45% to 75% a year for servicing the card account rather than the 23%-28% he or she was promised.