THE MINISTRY OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DID NOT APPROVE THE LAW ON THE EXTRAJUDICIAL BANKRUPTCY FOR THE INDIVIDUALS

According to the deputy minister of the economic development, the amendments that were made to the draft law significantly reduced the number of people who can use the law. We should recall that the work on it began precisely in order to expand the circle of citizens who can use this draft law. However, now this circle has only narrowed, and here are some reasons of it.

Firstly, it was originally planned to give the opportunity to initiate extrajudicial bankruptcy for the citizens with a debt limit of 50,000 rubles or below, but in the latest version of the draft law, this border rose to 200,000 rubles.

Secondly, the criteria for the potential bankrupts have been significantly tightened:

• a person should have the signs of insolvency, as well as not have movable and immovable property, except for his or her own housing;

• within six months, the debtor may have no more than ¼ debt, in the case of having a bank loan, then such an agreement should be concluded at least a year before applying for bankruptcy or the debtor should make at least 9 payments on it (not less than three payments in case of having a “credit vacation”).

Thus, an active discussion of the draft law led to a “tug of blankets” of the potential lenders, and ultimately did not give the result that the Ministry of Economic Development expected to get.

Currently, the draft law is being finalized and is being prepared for consideration in the second reading in the State Duma.