The Law of Ukraine No. 4142 “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Protect Debtors in Settlement of Overdue Debts” provides for the regulation of legal relations arising during the settlement of overdue debts, in order to protect the rights of consumers-debtors and restrict access to the market of potentially unfair collectors.The Law No. 4241 “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Protect Debtors in Settlement of Overdue Debts” establishes a set of tools to protect the rights of debtors with consumer credit debts and restricts access of potentially unscrupulous collectors to the market:
- in particular it prohibits making phone calls to a debtor between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.;
- making more than 2 phone calls a day;
- informing third parties about the debt;
- demanding that a debtor’s relatives repay his/her debt, etc.;
- defines the term “collection company” and obliges the National Bank to maintain a register of such companies;
- specifies that lenders and collection companies must comply with the requirements of ethical conduct and rules of interaction with the debtor, including the necessity to indicate the company’s name of the individual collector’s last name, first name, patronymic, the legal basis for and amount of the overdue debt, to provide supporting documents within 7 working days, etc.
The punishment of creditors/collectors for violating legal requirements consists in a fine ranging from 51,000 to 102,000 UAH.
The law empowers the National Bank of Ukraine to supervise the observance of banks, other financial institutions and persons who are not financial institutions, but have the right to provide certain financial services, as well as collection companies legislation on the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services.