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Give it a chance to grow: Russians have accumulated four times more debts on micro-loans
Russians are increasingly using credit lines from MFIs, an analogue of bank credit cards. According to the Central Bank, in the first quarter of 2026, citizens owed 86 billion rubles on such products. This is almost four times more than in the same period last year. Demand has jumped against the background of upcoming restrictions on the number of loans issued per person — it is easier for microfinance organizations to fix the limit immediately, even if the client needs a smaller amount at the moment. But while MFIs are successfully preparing to circumvent the rule on the number of loans, people are getting more addicted to debt. How risky such products are and to whom they can be beneficial is described in the Izvestia article.
How micro-loans from MFIs work
Citizens have become much more likely to use credit lines from MFIs, it follows from the data of the Central Bank, which was studied by Izvestia. In fact, it is an analogue of a bank credit card. The client enters into a contract once, after which he can repeatedly borrow money within the established limit without re-issuing the loan. Interest is accrued only on the amount actually used, and the money itself is transferred to the borrower's bank card.
If at the end of 2025 the volume of all microcredit limits opened in MFIs was only 7% of total disbursements, then in the first quarter of 2026 it increased by almost a third and reached 38%.
In the first three months of this year, Russians received 86 billion rubles through such products, Izvestia calculated based on data from the Central Bank. This is 3.6 times more than in the same period last year.
The average size of the limit of such a loan is now about 50 thousand rubles, follows from the data of the Bank of Russia. Most credit lines are opened in the range from 30 thousand to 100 thousand rubles, and the average monthly usage amount is about 11 thousand rubles, said Anna Parshina, Marketing Director at IFC MigCredit.
Rates on such products are usually at the level of 0.5–0.7% per day, but regular customers often receive preferential terms, the expert said. At the same time, the Central Bank stressed that the full cost of loans issued through credit lines is still close to the maximum allowable level - about 292% per annum.
In general, due to the greater availability of loans through credit lines, customers are only able to get more hooked on making loans to MFIs.
The distribution of such products is primarily related to the preparation of the market for new regulatory requirements. Starting from October 1, 2026, the borrower will not be able to simultaneously repay more than two loans with a full value above 200% per annum. And from April 1, 2027, the principle of "one loan in one hand" will begin to operate for loans with a full value above 100%.
Under these conditions, credit lines will allow MFIs not to violate future restrictions on the number of loans and at the same time maintain the opportunity to work with reliable customers under the already open limit, said Olesya Kiselyova, CEO of Lime Credit Group.
How MFOs circumvent the limit on the number of loans
According to the Central Bank, credit lines allow companies to retain customers much longer. While most conventional microloans are issued for a maximum of six months, new credit lines are more often valid for three to five years.
The product itself cannot be called new — it appeared two years ago, but it is now that it has begun to gain popularity rapidly, the press service of the SRO MIR noted. They explained that the microloan market has almost exhausted the opportunities for growth due to new customers, so companies are gradually switching to a model of retaining old borrowers. The company already knows their payment discipline, said Andrey Ponomarev, CEO of Webbankir.
Keeping such a borrower is much cheaper than constantly looking for a new one. Attracting a client to an MFI is now becoming more expensive. Many companies are working at zero or even minus for new users, Olesya Kiselyova added. They start making a profit from the borrower when he comes to them for the second or third time, said Andrey Ponomarev.
The old business models of MFOs are becoming ineffective, concluded Nadezhda Dimchenko, Alfa-Money's Business Development Director. As a result, companies are gradually shifting to more long-term products.
This is even beneficial for clients with good payment discipline: instead of several microloans in different companies, a person uses a single limit, which makes his debt burden more transparent.
Nevertheless, such products can significantly increase the debt burden of customers. Even if only 12,000 rubles are actually used out of the limit of 50,000 rubles, creditors are forced to calculate the total potential debts of the client based on the maximum amount.
This can cause problems when applying for new loans from banks. The Central Bank's restrictions on issuing loans to borrowers who spend more than half of their income on debt servicing are in effect in the market. If the indicator is too high, it will be more difficult or almost impossible to get a mortgage or consumer loan.
These restrictions have become an important reason for the growing demand for micro-loans from MFIs. However, after their introduction, the share of approvals for applications in banks decreased — now borrowers receive loans in only one out of four cases.
The problem is especially acute for certain categories of clients, such as the self—employed, who often find it difficult to confirm income, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Global. In such cases, microfinance institutions turn out to be more flexible, so many of these borrowers become their clients.
The market may change even more in the future, says Joy Money, CEO of IT Smart Finance Group Maxim Pashchenko. In his opinion, some small MFIs may not be able to cope with the increasing regulatory burden, and their clients will have to be served by larger players. The MIR SRO emphasizes that in these conditions it is especially important to prevent such borrowers from entering the illegal lending market.
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