Banks will stop providing loans without income inquiries

Starting from 7 April Belarusian banks will require income certificates for concluding all types of loan agreements.

Interfax-West news agency learnt the news from a top-manager of one of the banks.

“There actually was a letter from the National Bank and the Association of Belarusian Banks, saying that this kind of measure was under development, and the date was mentioned of the submission of the documents to the Ministry of Justice – 6 March”, - a top-manager of one of the banks told the agency.

“Usually the registration takes about a month. This means that, in theory, starting from 7 April such a measure may be introduced. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell, to what extent this is accurate, because, in theory, the Ministry of Justice may ask to add or change something”, - he added.

According to the agency’s interlocutor, if such a measure is introduced, the number of fast loans, issued most often in stores, will shrink.

“If we speak of loans, issued in stores, where express-loans are issued for clients most often without income certificates, and their purchases to a large extent guided by some emotional impulse, then, of course, there will be a certain drop in the number of issued loans”, - the banker believes.

The new measure will not affect the number of loans, for which income inquiries were required before, he pointed out.

The gossips that banks will stop issuing loans without an income certificate emerged as early as in February. Bankers then were saying that at the National Bank they were discussing the introduction of such a measure as obligatory. In the meanwhile, at the National Bank they then emphasized that they gave no recommendation to commercial banks as to toughening the requirements for issuing loans for natural persons. They did not, though, rule out that at a later date the governor may take decisions on loans for natural persons, coming from the situation in the country’s currency and financial markets.