Tricky policy: insurance issued with credit is being massively rejected in Russia
Russians began to massively abandon insurance purchased upon receipt of a loan and return the money spent on them. This happens 23 times more often than a year ago — in three months, customers received funds back for 3.6 million policies, according to data from the National Rating Agency (NRA). This surge is associated with an increase in financial literacy and an increase in the "cooling off period." But the imposition of insurance by banks is also growing, experts say. Some loans cannot be issued without a policy, but then a person has the right to return the money for protection, and many use this. How much time is there to refuse coverage and what are the pitfalls — in the Izvestia material.
In Russia, they began to refuse insurance 23 times more often
In Russia, insurance purchased earlier began to be abandoned en masse, and there was a sharp surge in early 2025. In January –March alone, customers returned money for 3.6 million policies, which is 23 times more than in the same period of 2024, according to NRA data analyzed by Izvestia.
Most often, people applied to refund money for life insurance policies — 3.5 million times. This indicates a misseling in banks, credit organizations impose such products on borrowers, the NRA noted. They added: This does not contribute to the growth of public confidence in insurance.
In just the first three months of 2025, by returning unnecessary policies, customers (individuals and companies) received 6.1 billion rubles back. The largest amounts were for cumulative life insurance. In the credit insurance segment, protection cost significantly less.
Russians have the right to apply for a refund on their purchased insurance during the "cooling-off period." For the first time, such an opportunity was launched back in 2016, said Gleb Yakovlev, Vice President of the VSS. Since then, this measure has become even more customer-oriented. For example, in 2018, the period for which people have the right to cancel the policy was increased from five to 14 days. And in 2024, the "cooling-off period" for credit insurance was further increased.
Now a person has 30 days to cancel any additional services purchased with the loan, the press service of the Central Bank added. Since last year, there have also been requirements that oblige the lender to notify the borrower in a short time about the completed additional services (goods, works) and the cooling period. The Bank of Russia monitors compliance with these measures, the regulator stressed.
They added that these innovations may lead to an increase in refusals from insurance and other additional services purchased with the loan.
Now, when applying for, for example, a car loan, the contract often provides for the client's obligation to take out insurance, Gleb Yakovlev said. The fact is that often the seller makes a profit only from additional services. However, then a person has every right to cancel the policy, and many people use this opportunity.
So, when buying a car, the client immediately understands that he will return the insurance, said Gleb Yakovlev. At the same time, the person gets their money back for the coverage. However, you should carefully read the terms of the loan agreement and the purchase agreement, in particular, after the insurance is refunded, the loan rate may change.
In total, in the first half of the year, the Central Bank received just over 400 complaints about the imposition of insurance on lending, its press service noted. However, the number of such requests has been decreasing since 2024, when new consumer protection requirements came into force.
How the insurance market is changing due to the cooling-off period
One of the main reasons for the refusal of bank insurance, of course, remains misselling, said Evgenia Lazareva, project manager of the Popular Front for Borrowers' Rights. Russians are more likely to cancel the action from imposed products — this is especially true for insurance related to credit cards, and to a somewhat lesser extent for consumer loans, said economist Andrei Barkhota.
With rising loan rates, borrowers may seek to reduce additional costs through insurance, Sovcombank Insurance explained. But without protection, the client assumes all financial risks, and if an insured event occurs (for example, disability or death), the burden on the client will increase or pass on to relatives.
Certain types of insurance are required to conclude a loan agreement — without them, you will not be able to make a deal, said Igor Rastorguev, a leading analyst at AMarkets. This applies to mortgages or consumer loans secured by real estate. However, all other policies are voluntary and do not directly relate to the loan agreement (no matter how hard a bank employee who is interested in the bonus might try to convince them of this).
To get a lower interest rate on the loan, the borrower is often offered to buy insurance, said Evgenia Lazareva. He pays the entire amount for it, but more than 75% of this money is received by banks as a commission — this is their earnings from the sale. The rest goes to insurance companies. In fact, their payments amount to less than 20% of all the money collected, so such policies are of little use to customers, and banks and insurance companies make good money from this.
— The practice of large—scale insurance of borrowers when applying for consumer loans began 12 years ago — it was especially promoted by banks, for which such loans were the main source of income, - said Andrey Barkhota.
It is very difficult to prove the imposition of a client and his coercion, explained Evgenia Lazareva. The regulator's appeals to the market are not valid, so in the last few years there has been a "cooling-off period" during which a citizen has the right to refuse insurance.
The mechanism of the cooling-off period is very simple, so insurance companies return funds to customers for policies without any problems, said Polina Lebedeva, founder of the Constanta Law Academy. People's financial literacy is growing, so they are actively using this right. In particular, people realized that they could get a cheaper loan by buying insurance and then demanding its repayment.
Nevertheless, the refund amount depends on the bank's commission, which, as a rule, is non-refundable, Evgenia Lazareva clarified. That is, only a part of the funds can be obtained.
— The increase in insurance refunds, in our opinion, will only affect insurers. They will have to rethink their business models and think about how to increase the customer value of their products. And we will have to work with the consumer, not make money from it," Evgenia Lazareva emphasized.
The moment has come when the situation with insurance of banking products may change — more and more clients want to terminate insurance after receiving a loan in order not to pay annual premiums, Andrey Barkhota concluded. On the other hand, the threat of revenue loss makes banks less active in reducing loan rates. Therefore, in the near future, we can expect a continuation of the trend towards lower deposit yields against the background of continued protective loan rates.
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