The Bank of Russia announced the popularity of the self-locking mechanism for loans

Russians have installed more than 22 million self-locks on loans in a year. This was announced on February 19 by the press service of the Bank of Russia.

"At the moment, for the period from March 1, 2025 (the beginning of action), a little more than 22.1 million self—locks have been installed," RIA Novosti reports.

The press service clarified that all installations are included in the statistics, even if the self-lock was removed later. The peak of activity occurred in the first month of the mechanism's operation — March last year, when Russians imposed about 8 million bans. Since then, from 1 to 1.6 million new self-locks have been recorded every month.

The mechanism protects citizens from fraudulent loans and borrowings, including remote registration, and acts as a complete or partial ban on loans.

Disbelief Loan: Banks turn around eight out of ten borrowers

By the end of 2025, the share of approvals fell to a minimum — why few people manage to break through the filters of financial organizations

On December 24, 2025, VTB's press service reported that self-locks are most often installed by citizens aged 41-55, who make up about 50% of the service's users. Almost a third are clients aged 25-40, while the proportion of young people under 25 and people over 65 does not exceed 5%. The service is most in demand among residents of Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, as well as the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Bashkiria, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar and Krasnoyarsk Territories. Every month, he blocks unwanted loans for 300 million rubles.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.