Mortgage trap: how a bank easily throws a family with two children out of an apartment

The situation in which the family of Aleksey Cherednichenko from Podolsk, near Moscow, found himself, strikes at the same time with the indifference and cynicism with which the bank employees approached the solution of the problem. And there are so many stories like this around the country...

Maria Dubinskaya

The couple, Alexei and Zarina, told Novye Izvestiya about their trouble. What if those on whom the future fate of a family with two minor children depends (the youngest daughter still attends kindergarten!), Will their hearts tremble and still be able to settle the issue as humanely as possible? Yes, naive, so be it, because hope, as they say, dies last.

“I think nothing will help us, but I still want to try, they must have something human there, some kind of conscience ... Although in our state they collect money for treatment of sick children on TV, in comparison with this - what kind of mortgage ups and downs are there...”, - Alexey said at the beginning of our conversation.

Two-room apartment, 55 sq m, Cherednichenko took a mortgage in November 2013, regularly paid the loan. The amount of the mortgage was 4,770,000 rubles.

“And in 2019, literally on the eve of the pandemic, my wife and I found ourselves without a job, and we stopped paying on a mortgage loan: there was nothing. At that time, we didn’t even have enough money, not even bread, despite the fact that there is a “living wage” in the country.

Of course, we immediately contacted the bank and explained the circumstances in which we found ourselves, asked to restructure the debt, but we were refused. And in credit holidays too.

The wording was something like this: the bank approves or disapproves of something at its discretion, and is not obliged to report to us.

From that moment bullying began on the part of the collection services of the bank. A flurry of terror calls several times a day!

“Sell something, you have a day for it! Go get another loan now! When are you leaving?! To bring in 500,000 rubles tomorrow! After 18:00, do not leave the apartment!”, - and everything in the same spirit.

It is clear that the purpose of such "actions" is the desire to exert psychological pressure, to paralyze people's lives.

Stop violations of Federal Law No. 230 ("On the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of individuals in the implementation of activities to return overdue debts and on amendments to the Federal Law "On microfinance activities and microfinance organizations", - note "NI") by these bank employees "we didn't succeed. We even filed a lawsuit, and two appeals to the police - all to no avail. In response to our complaint, we received a long reply that the bank did not reveal any violations in the actions of its employees. What can I say? Well, in addition, the impression was that the courts and the police simply turn a blind eye to violations of the law,” said Alexei Cherednichenko.

The couple frantically searched for work and continued to write to authorities in the hope of help. They reported their problem to the presidential administration, but received no answer on the merits of Cherednichenko's question. Alexei was informed that the appeal had been forwarded to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, but the final answer was never received from there. They tried to get a meeting with the head of the bank - it's not forbidden. But, of course, it was refused: "Busy."

We summarize: during the period from 2013 to 2019, the spouses paid the bank a total of more than 3,990,000 rubles, which, by the way, also included federal maternity capital, part of which was automatically used to pay interest (although the spouses wrote a statement stating that this did not agree, but as it turns out, this is a "common practice").

And since 2019, when Alexei and Zarina temporarily lost their jobs, to the present they have contributed 600,000 rubles (October 2021) plus 100,000 of the second maternity capital (transferred in April 2022), of which, for some unknown reason, was transferred to the account mortgage repayment was only 62,000 rubles.

To date, according to the bank's calculation, taking into account interest and accrued penalties, Cherednichenko must pay another 5,600,000 rubles to the bank (recall - the total amount of the mortgage was 4,770,000 rubles).

“The amount of the balance changes every now and then. The forfeit "drips" at about 50,000 rubles a month, as if the bank were renting our own apartment to us, ”explained Aleksey Cherednichenko.

“Unfortunately, we have no dialogue with the creditor at the moment. And it's not our fault. Despite the fact that the judge of the Podolsky city court has repeatedly stated that "it is easy to negotiate with the bank." In our case, we believe that the judge acted in the interests of the bank, urging us to start paying: “Start paying as much as you can.” To our objections about whether this makes sense now, the judge said that “with such thoughts, there is no point,” and added, “but start paying”. As if - please act.

As a result, since my wife got a job by that time - Zarina is an accountant, and I became a self-employed person, in October 2021 we were able to contribute more than 600,000 rubles, we collected these funds, of course, from all relatives.

And at the next court session, it was decided to sell our apartment! The judge acted as if we had never had any conversation about the fact that we should start paying something to settle the situation. And simply reduced the amount of our debt by the amount of these funds contributed by us.

We also tried to formalize a settlement agreement. But our statement about the proposal of a settlement agreement was refused by Sberbank.

Now our apartment should go under the hammer, and the bank should receive money from the sale.

By a court decision, the apartment should be sold for 5,800,000 rubles - at a market value of 9,000,000 rubles, according to CYAN.

My wife and children are in constant stress, in standby mode, like on a powder keg. We've filed an appeal.

We understand in advance that the chances that the outcome of the appeal will be in our favor are ridiculous, or rather, there are none at all.

Maternity capital in the amount of 100 thousand - of which, for some reason, only 62,000 went to pay off the mortgage through the PFR, and 38,000 hung somewhere - will be a gift to the bank, but our family with two minor children will be left without housing ... And you need to understand that the mother capital can no longer be returned. The money that was intended to provide housing for a minor, according to the law, now remains with the bank,” Alexey and Zarina lament.

After contacting the governor of the Moscow Region by mail, the family was invited to the Housing Accounting and Distribution Department of the Administration of the Podolsk M.O. Urban District to clarify the details.

“They told us that when the deadline for eviction comes, which, as we understand, will become known in the very near future, we need to contact them again, then they will provide us with some kind of social housing, at the rate of 6 square meters per person.

The place is still unknown, it may be a hostel, which is in an incomprehensible state. And, of course, it’s completely clear that it doesn’t matter to everyone how far from this proposed social housing there will be a kindergarten and a school where our children go…”, Alexey explained.

According to the man, the lawyers whom the family contacted say that there is no chance to keep the apartment, and if someone promises to win in litigation, it will be just "another 'divorce' for money."

Through the publication in Novye Izvestia, Alexey and Zarina hope to enter into an adequate dialogue with the bank in order to come to a compromise solution that will not entail eviction.

“We would very much like to return to the original payment schedule, and ideally, remove the astronomical penalties, fines and forfeits accrued over three years. And, of course, it is also very desirable to exclude rudeness on the part of those bank employees who ignore Federal Legislation,” Alexey Cherednichenko noted.

It is quite obvious that the family of Alexei and Zarina is not a malicious principled non-payer, but simply became a victim of difficult life circumstances (like thousands of families throughout Russia). At the same time, the spouses actively tried in every possible way to prove their desire to repay the debt - and not just in words and in written statements, but also in rubles.

Dear Sberbank, is it really impossible to find an opportunity to meet people halfway and not destroy the life of a wonderful family with minor children? Of course, such an opportunity can be found. There would be a desire. Show it, please. Prove that families with children are not an empty place and can count on a helping hand in our country. Alexey Cherednichenko's contacts are in the editorial office.