The public activists of Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region, are currently collecting signature for the petition to the Russian Federation Public Prosecutor’s Office and the President of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev’s Administration that calls for looking into the business activity of Russian Standard Bank. The petition was designed by Nizhniy Tagil branch of Russia’s Young Lawyers, a pressure group.

The branch’s head Evgeniy Ryakin says they have been getting plenty of complaints regarding the methods the bank in question employs to collect loan debt. What is more, the lawyers detected numerous violations of the Russian Federation Civil Code in the way the bank’s loan agreements are arranged.

‘We started helping various banks’ customers on a pro bono basis in August 2009. Since then, we’ve had many people complain about Russian Standard Bank, particularly about the bank’s debt-collecting practices. For one, the bank’s representatives keep on calling the debtors, even at night; they send threatening letters and sometimes visit in person. These actions are often illegitimate. For example, the bank’s letters refer to some articles of the Criminal Code that allegedly state a non-paying debtor must go to jail. This is just not true, as a breach of contract is handled within the civil relations scope and leads to civil liability, but by no means to criminal one,’ Evgeniy Ryakin informed UrBC.

‘We began investigating these cases and realized things were not as easy as they seemed at first. Russian Standard Bank’s credit card agreements are illegal themselves. Let’s say a customer wishes to buy some home appliances on credit; in this case, his or her credit agreement will have another sub-agreement that makes the customer accept a credit card which cannot be refused. This can be classed as a violation of the Federal Consumer Rights Protection Act: getting one service depends on buying another one. What is more, the Civil Code tells you that an application for a credit card must mention at least the amount of the money borrowed and the interest to be paid. As for the applications and agreements of Russian Standard Bank, nothing of the kind is written there. In fact, there are way too many violations in this bank’s agreements,’ Ryakin said.

‘According to the Civil Code, if an agreement violates at least one legal provision, it can be declared invalid. Now Russian Standard Bank’s agreements contain four to five violations,’ he added.

Ryakin says the signatures will be collected until February 10, 2010, whereupon the petition will be handed in to the authorities.