Which bank has the lowest commission for payments? Frequently asked questions: commissions when paying for utilities Do not pay commissions to the bank

Paying for the services of banking organizations that carry out a wide range of financial and credit operations allows a special type of deduction paid by the client - a commission to the bank.

Banks without commission - financial benefit for the client

Banking organizations increase financial assets through various items of income. Client commission payments constitute a significant part of the capital increased by a credit institution. At the same time, to increase loyalty, a number of services are provided that banks offer without commission:

• card service;
• cash withdrawal;
• payment of utility bills;
• transfers between personal accounts.

A number of banking organizations also carry out registration and financial transactions included in this service without the need to pay fees.

The amount of commission fees is indicated in numbers, as a percentage for each service provided.

What commission do banks charge for withdrawing banknotes from credit cards?

The amount of fees charged to clients when performing transactions is determined by the signed agreement. The document includes a list of services provided by the banking institution and the amount of commission for their implementation.

What commission do banks charge for using credit assets withdrawn from cards? The fees vary:

• VTB 24 – 5.5%;
• Tinkoff – 2.9%+290 rubles;
• Sberbank – 3-4%;
• Promsvyazbank – 4.9%.

The amount of commission charged depends on the method of cash withdrawal. If the funds are dispensed from an ATM of a bank that is not a partner of the credit institution, the fee will be higher.

Bank transfer fee: when does the client pay the fee?

The bank's commission for transferring banknotes depends on the type of payment being made. Typically, the organization makes transfers between client accounts in the same bank without paying fees.

Commission fees are charged for transfers:

• between accounts opened in different financial institutions;
• intra-bank, carried out on instructions;
• without opening an account.

The size of the commission is determined taking into account the type of currency (national, foreign), payment method (Internet banking, cash desk, transfer system), direction of cash flow (within the country, outside the state).

Payment of bank commission: terms

Banking institutions charge fees based on the type of service provided. Payment of bank commissions implies different payment terms Money:

• instant payment (online transfers, payments via cash register, transfer system);
• monthly fee (service of plastic);
• after performing certain actions (receiving a card, first use).

You can choose a banking product with flexible tariff conditions by comparing offers from various credit institutions and studying in detail all the terms of the proposed agreement.

Bank credit commission: features

Lending is the main source of replenishment of financial assets of banking organizations. Loan rates from different institutions can vary significantly, and a low interest rate does not guarantee the profitability of the product.

The bank's loan commission may not include a number of hidden fees charged for services:

• issuance of credit;
• assistance from a personal consultant;
• transfer of funds;
• consideration of an application submitted by a potential borrower.

Bank lending rates are attractive, but the agreement may contain a list of additional commission fees. Before signing the document, study all its points.

Alfa-Bank: commission for withdrawing banknotes

Low tariff rates for servicing card accounts are guaranteed by Alfa-Bank. There is no commission for withdrawing funds from ATMs of a credit institution or partner banks. If conversion is required, the fee is 5%. For withdrawals of monetary units through ATMs of third-party banking organizations, you must pay 1.25%.

How to return illegal bank commission

Commission fee is a type of payment present in many loan agreements. The client can compensate for material losses if three years have not passed since the funds were written off. How to return illegal bank commission? The court will help satisfy the claims.

You can count on a refund of monetary units when paying for additional services, without which it is impossible to provide the main package product. Having recorded the fact that money has been written off, file a claim with the institution. In most cases, it will be rejected, after which a statement of claim should be drawn up, arguing the reasons in accordance with the current legislation. Contacting competent lawyers will increase the chance of getting the desired decision in court.

Bank commission - what is it?

When providing services, financial institutions charge an additional fee, which is determined by the banking commission. What is this? The term characterizes the type of client fees paid at the time of making foreign currency and cash transactions in accordance with the established regulations. The amount of the deposited amount is 1-6%, depending on the type of action (withdrawing cash from, payments, receiving cash from an ATM of a third-party institution).

You can find out about the presence of fees and their amount by studying the service agreement for a card or credit product or by seeking the help of the operator before making payments. There are transactions carried out without client fees.

How to conduct a bank commission

The financial expenses of an enterprise must be correctly taken into account when preparing reporting documentation. Fees collected for payment transactions are included in the total costs in accordance with accepted standards. How to conduct a bank commission, correctly displaying it in the documentation? Use an invoice if the services provided are taxable. You can make payments using a receipt order without VAT. Having a banking service agreement is a guarantee that there will be no financial confusion.

It is not advisable to make commission payments if no profit is received under the “Provision of services” item. The transaction will lead to additional attention from the tax service, since a negative balance will arise.

Hidden bank commissions on loans

Applying for a loan involves paying operating expenses. Payment of commission fees is mandatory. Sometimes the debtor pays hidden bank commissions on the loan, which increases the volume of encumbrances. The minimum rate offered in loan products is compensated through similar monthly payments.

Common hidden fees:

• account maintenance;
• depositing/withdrawing funds;
• insurance fee;
• early repayment of debt obligations.

Payments to the banking structure can be one-time or monthly. Avoiding additional costs will allow you to carefully study the credit offers of institutions and select a product with optimal conditions clearly specified in the contract.

Are bank commissions on loans legal?

The activities of institutions are aimed at accumulating their own funds. Client fees make up a significant share of income. Rendering paid services justified by law if they create property benefits for the consumer. Certain types of fees are optional:

• loan processing;
• account keeping;
• cash withdrawal;
• consideration of the application, etc.

Are bank commissions on loans legal? Only a lawyer in court can help determine the validity of including certain clauses in a contract. By making claims at the loan application stage, you risk being rejected. Therefore, the issue must be resolved after signing the agreement and only through the court. Contacting a credit institution is in most cases unsuccessful.

Commissions and penalties for early repayment of loans

The borrower is obliged to repay debt financial obligations within the prescribed period. Premature payment is provided for in the contract in many credit structures. The commercial policy of individual institutions involves collecting payment from the client. Fees and penalties for early repayment of loans are a common type of additional fees. The standard rate is 1-3%, but the rate may be higher.

When challenging such actions, be prepared to compensate for lost banking organization profits, which its representatives have the right to demand in court. The majority of decisions are made in favor of the client. The amount received is often greater than the compensation payment. An experienced lawyer will advise you on the expediency of legal action.

Amounts of unpaid bank commissions are subject to personal income tax

Outstanding credit when it is impossible to collect the debt in commercial organizations written off as hopeless. Individual, to whom the borrowed funds were issued, receives material benefits. The amount of tax levied when paying commission contributions is reduced, which entails a loss of budget savings. Therefore, according to the resolution of 2014, the amounts of unpaid bank commissions are subject to personal income tax.

The appropriate funds must be collected from the borrower if the business institution makes any payments to his account. The return of the amount by the client in an amount that provides for full repayment of the debt provides compensation for the withheld monetary units in his favor.

Bank commission: established judicial practice

Proceedings challenging the actions of banking structures towards clients in writing off commission expenses make it possible to return illegally paid funds. When determining the amount of material compensation, they take into account the amount of the bank's commission. The established judicial practice of recent years proves that the outcome of most cases with the participation of experienced lawyers is in favor of consumers.

You can challenge the legality of collecting a payment if the service is part of the main banking product, the use of which is impossible without its provision. A preliminary consultation with a lawyer will allow you to assess the expected material benefits, associated costs, and the costs of compensating for the financial losses of the creditor that need to be paid. For example, for transactions carried out through the online Internet banking system, some banks still charge commissions. But the point is that when performing the procedure, the time and work of the operator or cashier are not involved. And if making payments requires periodic complex maintenance of the machine, then once completed, the Internet resource with a high degree of security works without failures and additional expenses. Due to the revaluation of current information, a number of transactions that clients carry out independently through the Internet banking system are not subject to accrual of commission fees. In the payment archive you can see the note: commission 0%.

Advice from Sravni.ru: Choose banking products by carefully studying all the details of the financial agreement. The size of the bank's loan commission may be low, but the amount of additional fees will significantly reduce the client's deposit benefit.

When making monthly payments, each of us wants to pay as few commissions to the bank as possible. We should start the conversation with the fact that in different regions, different cities there may be different opportunities. Firstly, the presence of banks. Secondly, their tariffs and the availability of remote channels.

Let us immediately note (regardless of which bank we choose) that using remote channels to access your account will significantly reduce our costs. It's easy to explain.

By offering such technology, credit institutions transfer work to machines, freeing up staff and accordingly reducing their operating expenses. Accordingly, if you pay for the same service through an operator or through your Personal Area in online banking, you will be charged different amounts for this.

Let's compare the offers of several large banks: VTB24, Sberbank of Russia, Alfa Bank, Bank of Moscow.

1. VTB 24. Transfer of payments to accounts legal entities through a cashier will cost us 1.5% of the transfer amount. Using the Telebank and Teleinfo services will allow you to save significantly. Transactions in the amount of up to three thousand rubles cost a fixed 20 rubles, above - 0.6%.
2. Sberbank of Russia charges a commission taking into account the presence or absence of agreements with the recipient party. This value may vary depending on the specific region. Through a cashier, the transaction will cost from 2 to 3 percent. Through Sberbank online, ATMs and terminals - from 0 to 1%.
3. Alfa Bank. Through the Alfa-Click service, depending on the package connected to the client, the bank writes off a commission in the amount of 29 rubles per payment or makes it free of charge.
4. Bank of Moscow. This bank has a program designed for retirees. For them, having a capital resident card (social card) allows them to pay for utilities for free. For all other payers - from 0.3 to 1.5%.

Most Russians prefer to make payments through Sberbank branches, and this is completely logical - there are branches of it in every locality, and in large cities the number of offices can be several dozen. Convenience comes first for many of us, and therefore it is most convenient to contact this company.

What will you need for payment? Your passport as a citizen of the Russian Federation or other identification document, as well as the details of the recipient - an individual or organization to whom you need to transfer money.

If you need to pay for housing and communal services, then in this case You need to take a payment card with you, and it is with this that the employees will carry out the enrollment. If the branch has ATMs equipped with a system for reading the barcode on the receipt, then you can pay the rent yourself without queuing; instructions are given here.

How will the commission be determined? Everything will depend on the region in which the recipient is located (i.e. where he opened his account) and on whether he has an agreement with Sberbank to make payments. In the first case, the commission is calculated individually, it will be no more than 2% of the transfer amount, in the second it will be carried out without charging any additional fee.

It remains only to note that not a single bank charges commissions for making budget payments.

Banks like to charge fees on loans. But many of them are not only unnecessary, but also illegal.

From this article you will learn how to recognize an illegal commission, avoid paying it and everything related to its return.

The Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation ruled in 2009 that commissions on loans are illegal.

This applies to both commissions when issuing loan money and for maintaining a loan account.

However, banks would not be banks if they had not found a way to circumvent the legislation. The old commissions were replaced by new ones, and they began to be called simply “payments”. Another way they charge illegal fees is through expensive insurance included in the loan.

But we need to talk about it separately, and in this article we'll talk bank refunds of commissions, the commissions themselves and how the borrower should work with them. How to find out if there are hidden fees on your loan? Are they legal? How to write a complaint?

Which ones are illegal?

A fee for issuing a loan is already a violation of the law. Why?

Because the person pays interest. He initially takes out a loan, understanding that he will pay interest.

If a bank charges a fee for issuing a loan, it forces a person to pay 2 times for the same service.

Back in 2009, the Supreme Arbitration Court prohibited banks from setting such a commission, and they stopped doing it.

Instead, other options appeared in the contracts. We list additional services that, in fact, can also be classified as illegal:

• Issuing a credit card to the borrower
• Bank account maintenance
• Enrollment in the ranks of “honored clients”

Why is this illegal?

Everything is very simple:

1. The borrower uses his bank account only when he pays off the loan. He brings the money to the bank or deposits it in the bank's account, and the bank lowers the debt in the borrower's bank account. Therefore, we can say that the borrower was imposed a service that he does not use, and they took money for it
2. There is simply no option on your loan application to cancel your credit card, bank account, and other useless things. By signing the application, the borrower automatically signs the connection of these services. Such an imposition, again, goes against the law.

Why doesn't the court prohibit banks from doing this?

• Firstly, because the cost of services is included in interest rate on a loan, and formally all these additional functions are free for the client
• Secondly, no one is stopping the borrower from suing the bank, and there is a high probability that the court will satisfy the claim, obliging the bank to deduct the cost of additional services from the interest rate. These cases are considered on an individual basis.

If you want to take out a loan, then try to look for a bank that does not offer any cards or accounts. There are few such banks, but they still exist. True, they often have higher interest rates, but there is still a chance to find the most profitable option

Which ones are legal?

Many banks charge borrowers a legitimate fee to reduce their interest rates.

Behind this illogical formulation lies the choice of several loan programs.

• One program is free, but it has very high interest rates
• The other one has lower interest rates, but with a large commission for the reduction. In this situation, the client has a formal choice. He can refuse, but the fact that in this case he will receive greatly inflated interest interests no one

So far, everything is legal, and bank clients can only wait for the arbitration court to once again restore justice.

How do I know if there are additional fees?

To find a bank that does not charge any additional fees, follow these steps:

1. Determine exactly why you need a loan and how much you want to receive
2. Find several loan offers with the lowest (but not suspiciously low!) rates
3. Study information on the official websites of banks about these loan offers. As a rule, various fees are indicated in a standard font, but low percentages are highlighted in very large size. Because of this, many potential borrowers simply do not pay attention to small text
4. Once you have chosen what you think is a safe loan offer, read reviews about it on the Internet. It wouldn't hurt to ask your friends. If any of them used this loan, then you will not be deceived

To find out everything for sure, you can contact credit brokers. They charge money for their services, so in case of a small loan it is not advisable to contact them. But if you want to take out a large loan, then the services of a credit broker will allow you to save significantly

Return procedure

You can return the commission illegally received by the bank even if you have already repaid the loan.

The only condition for a refund by your bank is that the statute of limitations must not exceed 3 years. Follow this algorithm:

1. Send a claim to the bank for pre-trial (voluntary) return of illegally received commission
2. If refused, go to court

As a rule, banks refuse voluntary returns, but you may get lucky. If the bank has recently lost several lawsuits, then they may return the money, since a lawsuit and tarnishing one's reputation are clearly not what they want.

Why should you go to court?

If you know for sure that it is illegal, then the chance of your claim being satisfied is close to 100%. Only monstrous bad luck can interfere.

In addition to a refund of the paid commission, you can receive:

• Penalty amounting to 20-50%, and sometimes up to 100% of the amount paid by you
• Interest for having your money in the bank (usually 8.25% per annum)
• Compensation for moral damage (not more than 10,000 rubles)

Calculate how much money you will win in court. If you decide to hire a lawyer, then it makes sense to choose him from the price category that will allow you to remain in the black as a result of the case

The court considers the dispute within 1 month. Another 1 month is needed for the court decision to come into force. If the bank stubbornly refuses to comply with the court decision, then the bailiffs will take over the matter instead. To receive money through bailiff, it will take another 1 month.

Thus, no more than 3 months pass between going to court and receiving money. Remember that with a lawyer the chance of winning is much higher. If you sue yourself and fail to do it correctly, then there is a risk of losing the case due to insufficient evidence. But a competent approach will help you win on your own.

Filing a claim to the bank

The claim is written in free form. But in order for bank employees to understand the seriousness of your intentions and respond with approval, it is better to create it according to a model.

If you miss any detail, you may get rejected.

A bank's refusal to voluntarily return an illegal commission is not a problem. You will probably win in court. But few people want to spend time on a trial, especially if there isn’t a lot of money at stake.

A properly drafted claim can help resolve a dispute out of court.

Filing a lawsuit

When filing a claim, please consider the following:

• The statute of limitations is 3 years from the date of payment of the illegal commission
• The loan agreement must be consumer (for personal use)
• It must be present in the text of the agreement and/or be indicated among the bank’s tariffs
• The court must know the exact amount of the amount paid

All contracts and documents confirming the fact of payment must be attached to the claim.

Sample claim

Download a sample claim to the bank for a refund of commission

Fill out your personal information, print it out and send it to the bank branch where you received the loan.

When paying for utility bills for April 2014, Vologda residents were faced with the fact that Sberbank and Russian Post now charge a commission for accepting payments. Naturally, this did not make anyone happy, since it was very convenient to pay at Sberbank or at the post office near the house, and housing and communal services cost a pretty penny anyway. Several people immediately contacted us asking about the legality of such a commission. Our lawyers explain what's what.

Can Sberbank and Russian Post charge a commission for accepting housing and communal services payments from consumers? Yes, 10 rubles would be fine, but here is a percentage of the payment amount!

Unfortunately, yes, they can, because... Sberbank and Russian Post accept payments in favor of third parties; they do not have an agreement to accept payments with the management company; they provide you with an independent service of transferring payments, so they can charge money for it. The size of the commission is determined by Sberbank and Post itself.

But I already pay the management company for managing the house, banking services are also included there! Does it mean that I pay the commission twice?

No, that's not true. According to the law, the management company cannot include in the tariff for maintenance and repair the costs of accepting payments from consumers. If the management company has provided the ability to accept payments from consumers without commission (through its cash desk or payment agent, which it is obliged to do by law), then you do not pay a commission for making your payment for housing and communal services to anyone.

I don’t understand at all how the management company calculates its tariffs. Maybe they included a fee for bank services there?

If you suspect that the management company has included such expenses in its tariff, we recommend that you first ask the management company for the procedure for calculating the tariff for maintenance and repairs. Upon your written request, the management company must give you a full, comprehensive answer, attaching all calculations and documents. If your fears are confirmed or the Criminal Code ignores your application, we recommend complaining to Rospotrebnadzor and the Housing Inspectorate.

Sber has stopped accepting payments; the management company offers to pay through some other bank and mobile phone stores. But this is inconvenient! Sberbank has many more terminals and offices.

Yes, inconvenient, but legal. According to the law, the management company must ensure the ability to accept payments for housing and communal services without commission. Formally, the management company provided it - it entered into an agreement with a paying agent (for example, a salon cellular communications or your bank), which does not charge you a commission. You, as a consumer, can choose for yourself where and how to pay for utilities. Therefore, you have to choose - pay the old fashioned way in Sberbank, because... it’s convenient, but with a commission, or you have to go to another bank or mobile phone store, but it’s free.

Well, now for those who are interested in the legal subtleties of the situation, what must be done and how Management Company to accept payments for housing and communal services.

1) The management company must provide the opportunity to pay for housing and communal services without commission.

Since the consumer is obliged to pay for utility services on time, the management company, for its part, must provide him with the opportunity to pay without a commission. Accepting payments for housing and communal services is not an independent service of the management company, but is an integral part of settlements with consumers, therefore the management company cannot charge a separate fee for accepting payments.

2) About the obligation of the management company to accept payment for housing and communal services in cash through the cash register.

The Criminal Code has such an obligation. Article 16.1 of the Russian Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” states that the seller (performer) is obliged to ensure the possibility of payment for goods (work, services) through the use of national payment instruments, as well as cash payments at the consumer's choice.

Moreover, the management company may even be fined for not being able to accept cash payments without commission. Here is an example - case A48-5713/2015, in which the Criminal Code challenged a fine from Rospotrebnadzor for failure to fulfill the obligation to ensure the possibility of payment utilities by cash
settlements without commission for “bank services” (part 4 of article 14.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

3) About possible ways to pay for utilities.

The procedure for accepting payments for services from consumers is prescribed in Article 37 of the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”. According to this article, services are paid in accordance with the instructions of the performer(in our case - MC) by depositing cash directly into the MC, to a credit institution (bank) or to a payment agent (cellular phone store).

In addition, there is Government Decree No. 354 of 05/06/2011, which states that payments for utility services are paid by consumers to the contractor or a paying agent or bank paying agent acting on his behalf (clause 63). This means that if the management company has agreed with a payment agent or bank to accept payments for housing and communal services without commission in cash, it may not keep a cash register in its office and not accept payments in cash.

The procedure for settlements with the management company is usually prescribed in the management agreement for an apartment building. If the contract does not specify a specific payment procedure, the consumer can pay in the following ways of his choice:

in cash, by bank transfer with opening an account in the bank of your choice, by transfer without opening an account, by postal transfer, by bank card, via the Internet, etc. You can pay for utilities personally or have another person do it for you.

It’s interesting that at a general meeting of owners in your house you can also accept decision to pay utility bills directly to resource supply organizations(water utility, heating network, gas workers, electricians). Based on the decision, it will be necessary to make appropriate changes to the agreement with the management company. You can then pay your utility providers directly without commission. True, there will be more receipts for payment :)

4) The management company does not have the right to include in the tariff for the maintenance and repair of common property the costs of accepting payments from consumers.

This is provided for by several laws:

• When determining the amount of maintenance and repair costs, the costs of issuing payment documents for housing and communal services may be taken into account (). However, nothing is said here about compensation for the costs of accepting payments;
• The standard for managing an apartment building includes a clause on the organization of payments for housing and communal services. This includes: calculation of payments, execution of payment documents, settlements with resource supply organizations (clause 4, paragraph g of Resolution 416 of May 15, 2013). That is, not a word about paid payment acceptance;
• It is not allowed to include in the financial needs of a regulated organization (MC) the costs of paying for the services of banks and other organizations for accepting payments (clause 21 of the Order of the Ministry of Regional Development dated February 15, 2011 No. 47).

If you do not understand the tariffs of the management company or you suspect that the management company has been cunning and included its costs of accepting payments in the fee for maintenance and repairs, be sure to contact the management company with a written request and the Housing Inspectorate with a complaint.

Bank commissions are one of the significant income items of a credit institution. In 2013, banks collected 745.5 billion rubles from citizens and legal entities. commissions only within the framework of credit programs - such data is contained in the banking sector reporting materials posted on the Central Bank website. Fee income for the year increased by 16.4% compared to 2012. Sberbank (212.8 billion rubles), Alfa-Bank (35.1 billion rubles) and Russian Standard (22.6 billion rubles) earned the most from commissions.

Legislation has repeatedly tried to curb the appetites of banks - for example, a rule has now been adopted that the bank is obliged to inform the client about the status of his account (replenishment and debiting of funds) via SMS free of charge. However, in reality, many banks charge money for this, motivating their position by the fact that they are expanding and complementing this particular service (mobile banking, client access to their account via mobile, etc.).

Many of these commissions have been repeatedly challenged in court. First of all, we are talking about such as a commission for issuing a loan, a commission for considering a loan application, for opening an account, for maintaining a loan, for maintaining and servicing an account (monthly and one-time), a commission for connecting to an insurance program, for operational servicing of an account, for settlement and cash services, for depositing funds and others. With the help of an experienced lawyer, this money can be returned to the bank client. The statute of limitations is three years, and if you paid dubious fees from the point of view of the law in 2011, you still have time to challenge them. Before entering into a conflict with a bank over the payment of a commission, you need to carefully study the relevant online consumer forums and the information that people report about their relationship with this bank, says Finpotrebsoyuz expert Alexey Drach. “Each bank has its own traditions; the history of struggle with Sberbank will not help in a conflict, for example, with Renaissance Credit Bank,” the lawyer emphasizes.

Pay the bank 45 thousand instead of 5

The most significant additional expense for the borrower is the insurance service, which is often offered to him in a package along with the loan. We are talking primarily about life and health insurance - services such as comprehensive insurance for a car loan or home insurance for a mortgage are completely justified and beneficial to the client. Many banks simply impose the life insurance service, Alexey Drach is convinced. “According to the papers, it appears to be voluntary; in fact, the client is told that without insurance they will not issue him a loan. But conditioning the purchase of a service on another service is contrary to consumer protection law. Life insurance costs 5 thousand rubles. per year, and banks offer it for an average of 50 thousand, and they take 45 thousand as a commission for transferring technical information to the insurance company,” says the lawyer.

You can refuse the commission and the imposed service if you do it in a timely manner. For example, a person received a loan, came home and saw what was there large sum insurance. He came back to the bank and wrote a statement refusing insurance services. “In accordance with the law, the insurance contract comes into force from the moment the insurance premium is paid. And the bank has not yet had time to give the money to the insurance company, because the banking day lasts up to 15 hours. If he transfers the money the next day, the bank is already acting at its own discretion, contrary to the person’s wishes. And if the bank has already managed to transfer the money and the person then comes to the bank with an application to refuse insurance, then another rule comes into force - if the client cancels the insurance contract early, the insurance premium is not returned,” says the Finpotrebsoyuz expert.

Representatives of the banking community do not agree with this assessment of their activities - in their opinion, most commissions have already been abolished, and those that are still in effect only cover the bank’s expenses and do not in any way increase its income. “Most banks have long abolished fees for issuing a loan or for early repayment,” says Bogdan Chekomasov, director of the retail business department at Intesa Bank. — Those commissions that are still charged to clients (withdrawal of commissions in third-party banks, SMS notifications, etc.) are of a compensatory nature for banks, i.e. the bulk of these commissions do not go to the bank’s income, but are transferred in the form of payment for the service or services of the companies providing these services (payment systems, mobile operators). These fees are completely legal, but they must be included in the calculation of the total cost of the loan."

Dmitry Shevchenko, Head of the Legal Department of Lanta-Bank

— Today, judicial practice on consumer loans consistently assumes that only the commission charged by the bank for the provision of an independent financial service is legal. Payment for a bank to perform standard actions, without which it would not be able to conclude or execute a loan agreement, according to the position of the Supreme Court of Russia, is invalid, since it violates consumer rights and can be challenged. By analogy with credit commissions, we can consider other commissions charged by banks, however, judicial practice here is not yet so clear and consistent. A number of judicial acts allow us to state that, for example, charging a commission for cash withdrawals from ATMs and bank cash desks and for non-cash transfers when receiving a loan repayment is also illegal. To determine the legality of the fees that banks constantly come up with, it is necessary to consider whether such a fee qualifies as a fee for a separate banking service or is part of the fee for a service for which the consumer is already paying: for example, in addition to interest on a loan agreement.

Kirill Linnik, expert of the Russian School of Management

— Unfortunately, for borrowers, most fees are usually legal. But banks, when issuing a loan, must warn about these commissions. If they did not do this, then in this case precedents arise, to which Russian courts treat very differently.

Tips for borrowers are very simple but effective:

1. Pay attention to the full interest rate under the contract. Before signing the contract, check whether there will be any commissions when receiving funds and repaying the loan.
2. Withdraw cash only from the lending bank's ATMs. As a rule, this is also paid, so it is better to pay by card.
3. For non-cash payments, as a rule, no commission is charged.
4. Pay off your loan via Internet banking or credit cards. As a rule, replenishing credit cards occurs without commissions. Repayment of loans from cards also, as a rule, occurs without commissions.

The main problem, in my opinion, is that people want to take out cheaper loans. Banks sell them cheaper, but they make money on commissions. And it turns out to be a war of cunning people. You can safely trust banks that indicate the PPP (full interest rate) in the agreement and stipulate loan repayment procedures themselves before signing contracts. Even if banks were required to minimize commissions, they would most likely begin to offer additional agreements for services for servicing loan recipients.