Retirees advised when they can not pay their debts

From a financial point of view, pensioners are one of the most vulnerable categories of debtors. At the same time, the receipt by a citizen of a pension as the only source of income in itself is not a basis for exemption from debt obligations. Fatima Nogailiyeva, an assistant at the Department of Labor and Social Law at St Petersburg University, warned about this in an interview with the PRIME agency.

According to her, part of the pensioner’s debts can be written off even in the process of judicial consideration of the dispute on their recovery. “For this, the pensioner must declare that the plaintiff-claimant has missed the statute of limitations. Art. 207 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation limits the period of possible debt collection to three years, with the exception of certain obligations to which the limitation period does not apply or its period is reduced, ”the expert noted.

Guided by these provisions, the court will refuse to collect the pensioner’s debt, which arose more than three years ago.

After the court decides to collect the debt, it is also possible to reduce its size or to be completely exempted from collection. According to Nogailiyeva, Article 101 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings” unequivocally allows for the debts of a pensioner to be levied on insurance pensions for old age and disability, a funded pension, and an urgent pension payment. “Only the breadwinner’s pension paid from the federal budget and additional payments to it from regional budgets are protected from debt collection under a writ of execution,” the expert pointed out.

Relating the pension to the ordinary income of the debtor, the law on enforcement proceedings at the same time limits the amount of deduction from it.

Firstly, from July 2021, a pensioner in respect of whom funds are being collected can submit a request to the bailiff service to maintain a pension on a monthly basis in the amount of the subsistence minimum for the able-bodied population as a whole in Russia or the subsistence minimum established in the constituent entity of the Russian Federation at the place of residence of the debtor , if its value exceeds the subsistence level of the able-bodied population in Russia as a whole.

“The presentation of such a demand guarantees the inviolability of the debtor’s pension every month in the amount of the subsistence minimum. If dependents are in the care of the debtor, then the size of the inviolable amount can be increased, ”explained Nogailiyeva.

Secondly, if the pensioner did not present such a requirement, Art. 99 of the Law on Enforcement Proceedings allows you to withhold no more than fifty percent of pensions and other income during the execution of an executive document.

The lawyer points out that the main tool for releasing a pensioner from debt obligations is the bankruptcy procedure of a citizen. “At the same time, the term “bankruptcy” does not carry any negative connotation, but only means that a person cannot fulfill his obligations and his debts must be written off,” the expert emphasized.

The conditions for the bankruptcy of a pensioner in court are 1) the presence of a debt of more than 500 thousand rubles. (including taxes, utility bills, loans to banks, microfinance organizations, individuals), 2) inability to fulfill obligations due to low income, 3) delay for more than 90 days.

If the amount of debts of a pensioner does not exceed 500 thousand rubles, then Art. 223.2 of the Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” allows you to carry out the bankruptcy procedure out of court by filing an application at the center for the provision of state and municipal services.

With regard to deductions from a pension in case of an erroneous overpayment: as a general rule, a pensioner should not reimburse the overpayment of a pension or other social benefits. “There are two exceptions: firstly, if the overpayment arose through the fault of the pensioner himself (for example, he did not report information affecting the amount of payment to the Pension Fund in a timely manner); secondly, if the reason for the overpayment was a counting error that occurred when calculating the amount of the payment. In these cases, the Pension Fund withholds the overpayment without going to court, but in compliance with the requirements for its size, ”concluded Nogailiyeva.