We are figuring out how not to become a victim of fraudsters and how to distinguish illegal from legal creditors.
Who are black lenders?
Only banks, microfinance organizations (MFOs), credit consumer cooperatives and pawnshops can be a professional lender, that is, to issue loans and borrowings in cash.
If a company (or a bank has a license) does not have a permit, but it still attracts clients, pretends to be licensed and lends to consumers, then this is an illegal, or black, creditor. These illegal creditors can act in different ways. For example, to issue money at very high interest rates, but at the same time not resort to outright criminality. And they can use criminal schemes to deceive clients' money and property.
What problems can arise if your lender is illegal?
All activities of white creditors are regulated by law. For example, consumer loans from a microfinance organization have a maximum loan interest rate and the total interest that you can be charged. The ways in which creditors can collect debt are also limited.
If your creditor turns out to be black, you risk at least overpaying the accrued interest. If you do not return the money to the white creditor on time, then he acts only by legal means, for example, he calls and reminds of the debt or sends letters with reminders, he can return the debts through the court. Under no circumstances does the lender have the right to threaten you. It's different on the black market. Black lenders use very different methods: intimidation, threats, talking to your relatives, colleagues, friends and neighbors. And sometimes debts are knocked out - in the truest sense of the word.
By borrowing from an illegal lender, you can lose not only money, but also nerves, and in some cases, health.
The first rule: take a loan or loan only from a legal lender.
If it seems to you that a legal loan will not give you, and you deliberately want to borrow money from an illegal lender, first think carefully about the consequences. Money from a black lender is unlikely to solve your problem, it is likely that the situation will only get worse. Not only will you overpay due to high interest rates, but you should also not wait for understanding from black creditors if you do not repay the debt on time.
You have the opportunity to come to an agreement with a legal creditor if you cannot return the money on time. You can ask for a debt restructuring, renegotiate a loan, or simply declare yourself bankrupt. Legal creditors can accommodate problem debtors and change the terms of debt service. The black creditor solves such problems differently: he can use dangerous methods of knocking out debt.
How do black lenders cheat customers?
Borrowers often do not suspect that they have an illegal organization in front of them. There are quite a few schemes by which scammers attract inattentive customers. The most popular ones look like this.
Prepayment for a loan
Sounds strange, although it is a very popular type of scam. You may be asked for money to check your credit history or insurance, take a transfer and disbursement fee, pay notary fees or a membership fee to join a cooperative. You give the money and your “helper” disappears.
Use of your data
You bring a complete package of documents to the organization. If they got to scammers, then on your behalf they can, for example, take a loan, which you will not know about soon. In addition, fraudsters may ask you for bank card details, including CVC codes, and reset all your accounts.
Questionable papers
Fraudsters can substitute a contract and give you completely different conditions to sign, for example, do not indicate a return period. This will allow them to request the full amount with interest the very next day.
How to recognize a black lender?
Check if the company is in the register on the Bank website
If the company is not in the Directory of Credit Institutions or in the Directory of Financial Market Participants on the Bank website, it is an illegal creditor. But even if you find the name of the company on the list, be careful.
Let's say there is a legal Good Company organization (MFI or bank). It has a name, logo and website. Fraudsters can take this very name and create several different sites with the design of the site of a real "Good Company". Only site addresses, phone numbers and, of course, the final credit terms will differ.
Therefore, you must be extremely careful when using online financial services.
Read the contract carefully
In order not to become a victim of an unscrupulous company, carefully read the contract that you are going to sign. A legal lender must have a lot of documents that clearly describe the procedure for concluding an agreement, issuing a loan or loan, conditions for their return or use. And according to the law, the creditor is obliged to give them to you, or at least to acquaint you with them.
The law also determines how a consumer credit or loan agreement should be drawn up. For example, the full cost of the loan (loan) must be prescribed in the agreement, and in the place strictly indicated for this - in a square frame on the first page of the agreement in the upper right corner. All terms and conditions of the contract must be specified in a separate table.
The black creditor is unlikely to follow all the requirements for the execution of the contract - as a rule, the text of the contract itself fits on 1-2 pages, the conditions are written in small print, and the wording of the conditions is inaccurate and very streamlined, they can be interpreted in two ways.
If you are not sure whether it is worth signing an agreement, then according to the law you can take documents and other papers home - and think within 5 days whether to conclude a deal or not. The terms of the contract will not change during this time. In addition, a legal lender cannot deny you such a service.
It is not profitable for a black lender to give you time to think, so he will try to persuade you to sign an agreement here and now. He may put pressure on the fact that this is the most advantageous offer and tomorrow its conditions will change for you.
If you are being offered a loan or a loan too persistently, this is another signal to think about whether to sign an agreement.
Don't be tempted by a tempting offer
Remember the adage about free cheese. If you are offered suspiciously favorable conditions, then make sure that the contract really spells out all the promises that the manager gives you or the company's advertising promises. You should not take out a loan if the wording is ambiguous or contradicts what you are told. Be sure to find out all the details about the offer from the company itself. Consult with an independent professional if you cannot understand what exactly is written in the documents.
“My grandfather and grandmother were cruelly deceived. They are not rich people, they live only on retirement, so they only have enough for the basic. Grandma got sick and needed to buy imported heart medicine. A course admission for a year cost $ 3500. I don’t know why they didn’t tell us, my grandfather decided to get the money himself ... "
Be vigilant, do not step on someone else's rake!
Many black creditors are interested in those who do not have the means and the ability to repay the debt. Such organizations give money on very "modest", at first glance, conditions - they only ask in return for a certain guarantee of return from your side, most often on the security of property. Their interest is precisely that you cannot return the money on time, so some kind of debt trap will be hidden in the contract. For example, the payment schedule will be drawn up in such a way that you will not be able to pay off the debt in the right amount and at the right time. As a result, scammers will get your property.
What if you run into a black lender?
First of all, do not be afraid to seek help from the Bank and law enforcement agencies if your rights are violated. Black creditors only play into the hands if the victims of their illegal actions, for one reason or another, keep silent about what happened.
If black creditors are trying to collect arrears from you by posing as the collectors, or actually entrusting them with it, you can contact the Federal Bailiff Service. If you have not found a company in the register or the organization indicated in the register violates the rules, contact the Internet reception of the Bank and submit an application to the law enforcement agencies. Do not fight alone, do not believe when you are convinced that it is useless to seek protection of your rights.
Who are black lenders?
Only banks, microfinance organizations (MFOs), credit consumer cooperatives and pawnshops can be a professional lender, that is, to issue loans and borrowings in cash.
If a company (or a bank has a license) does not have a permit, but it still attracts clients, pretends to be licensed and lends to consumers, then this is an illegal, or black, creditor. These illegal creditors can act in different ways. For example, to issue money at very high interest rates, but at the same time not resort to outright criminality. And they can use criminal schemes to deceive clients' money and property.
What problems can arise if your lender is illegal?
All activities of white creditors are regulated by law. For example, consumer loans from a microfinance organization have a maximum loan interest rate and the total interest that you can be charged. The ways in which creditors can collect debt are also limited.
If your creditor turns out to be black, you risk at least overpaying the accrued interest. If you do not return the money to the white creditor on time, then he acts only by legal means, for example, he calls and reminds of the debt or sends letters with reminders, he can return the debts through the court. Under no circumstances does the lender have the right to threaten you. It's different on the black market. Black lenders use very different methods: intimidation, threats, talking to your relatives, colleagues, friends and neighbors. And sometimes debts are knocked out - in the truest sense of the word.
By borrowing from an illegal lender, you can lose not only money, but also nerves, and in some cases, health.
The first rule: take a loan or loan only from a legal lender.
If it seems to you that a legal loan will not give you, and you deliberately want to borrow money from an illegal lender, first think carefully about the consequences. Money from a black lender is unlikely to solve your problem, it is likely that the situation will only get worse. Not only will you overpay due to high interest rates, but you should also not wait for understanding from black creditors if you do not repay the debt on time.
You have the opportunity to come to an agreement with a legal creditor if you cannot return the money on time. You can ask for a debt restructuring, renegotiate a loan, or simply declare yourself bankrupt. Legal creditors can accommodate problem debtors and change the terms of debt service. The black creditor solves such problems differently: he can use dangerous methods of knocking out debt.
How do black lenders cheat customers?
Borrowers often do not suspect that they have an illegal organization in front of them. There are quite a few schemes by which scammers attract inattentive customers. The most popular ones look like this.
Prepayment for a loan
Sounds strange, although it is a very popular type of scam. You may be asked for money to check your credit history or insurance, take a transfer and disbursement fee, pay notary fees or a membership fee to join a cooperative. You give the money and your “helper” disappears.
Use of your data
You bring a complete package of documents to the organization. If they got to scammers, then on your behalf they can, for example, take a loan, which you will not know about soon. In addition, fraudsters may ask you for bank card details, including CVC codes, and reset all your accounts.
Questionable papers
Fraudsters can substitute a contract and give you completely different conditions to sign, for example, do not indicate a return period. This will allow them to request the full amount with interest the very next day.
How to recognize a black lender?
Check if the company is in the register on the Bank website
If the company is not in the Directory of Credit Institutions or in the Directory of Financial Market Participants on the Bank website, it is an illegal creditor. But even if you find the name of the company on the list, be careful.
Let's say there is a legal Good Company organization (MFI or bank). It has a name, logo and website. Fraudsters can take this very name and create several different sites with the design of the site of a real "Good Company". Only site addresses, phone numbers and, of course, the final credit terms will differ.
Therefore, you must be extremely careful when using online financial services.
Read the contract carefully
In order not to become a victim of an unscrupulous company, carefully read the contract that you are going to sign. A legal lender must have a lot of documents that clearly describe the procedure for concluding an agreement, issuing a loan or loan, conditions for their return or use. And according to the law, the creditor is obliged to give them to you, or at least to acquaint you with them.
The law also determines how a consumer credit or loan agreement should be drawn up. For example, the full cost of the loan (loan) must be prescribed in the agreement, and in the place strictly indicated for this - in a square frame on the first page of the agreement in the upper right corner. All terms and conditions of the contract must be specified in a separate table.
The black creditor is unlikely to follow all the requirements for the execution of the contract - as a rule, the text of the contract itself fits on 1-2 pages, the conditions are written in small print, and the wording of the conditions is inaccurate and very streamlined, they can be interpreted in two ways.
If you are not sure whether it is worth signing an agreement, then according to the law you can take documents and other papers home - and think within 5 days whether to conclude a deal or not. The terms of the contract will not change during this time. In addition, a legal lender cannot deny you such a service.
It is not profitable for a black lender to give you time to think, so he will try to persuade you to sign an agreement here and now. He may put pressure on the fact that this is the most advantageous offer and tomorrow its conditions will change for you.
If you are being offered a loan or a loan too persistently, this is another signal to think about whether to sign an agreement.
Don't be tempted by a tempting offer
Remember the adage about free cheese. If you are offered suspiciously favorable conditions, then make sure that the contract really spells out all the promises that the manager gives you or the company's advertising promises. You should not take out a loan if the wording is ambiguous or contradicts what you are told. Be sure to find out all the details about the offer from the company itself. Consult with an independent professional if you cannot understand what exactly is written in the documents.
“My grandfather and grandmother were cruelly deceived. They are not rich people, they live only on retirement, so they only have enough for the basic. Grandma got sick and needed to buy imported heart medicine. A course admission for a year cost $ 3500. I don’t know why they didn’t tell us, my grandfather decided to get the money himself ... "
Be vigilant, do not step on someone else's rake!
Many black creditors are interested in those who do not have the means and the ability to repay the debt. Such organizations give money on very "modest", at first glance, conditions - they only ask in return for a certain guarantee of return from your side, most often on the security of property. Their interest is precisely that you cannot return the money on time, so some kind of debt trap will be hidden in the contract. For example, the payment schedule will be drawn up in such a way that you will not be able to pay off the debt in the right amount and at the right time. As a result, scammers will get your property.
What if you run into a black lender?
First of all, do not be afraid to seek help from the Bank and law enforcement agencies if your rights are violated. Black creditors only play into the hands if the victims of their illegal actions, for one reason or another, keep silent about what happened.
If black creditors are trying to collect arrears from you by posing as the collectors, or actually entrusting them with it, you can contact the Federal Bailiff Service. If you have not found a company in the register or the organization indicated in the register violates the rules, contact the Internet reception of the Bank and submit an application to the law enforcement agencies. Do not fight alone, do not believe when you are convinced that it is useless to seek protection of your rights.
