New debit account payment system launches, but banks anticipate limited use

Starting next Monday, a new loan installment payment system will come into effect, called Payment by Transfer (CCT). Essentially, it consists of an authorization from the borrower for a bank or a non-financial credit provider to debit the installment amount from a specific account.

The resolution that created the CCT was signed by the BCRA on March 2 and granted agents of the expanded financial system until August 31 to bring their systems online. In other words, it was designed before the onset of the delinquency crisis. In fact, the 6 million people currently struggling to pay their loans will see no changes in their situation.

The new system establishes that the entity granting the credit can only debit the installment from the account where the loan was disbursed. This mechanism replaces the DEBIN, which was in effect until now but was prone to fraud. In that case, the person would provide their CBU number to another person or company to collect the owed amounts from their account.

Sources from private banks consulted by Ámbito confirmed that the CCT will be operational starting this Monday, although they believe it will have limited reach.

Main Features

• Only allows the collection of fixed and equal installments throughout the duration of the contract.
• Limits the installment/income ratio to 30% at the time of loan origination, aiming to prevent over-indebtedness.
• Establishes caps for attempts to collect each installment: one initial attempt and up to two retries, at 48 and 96 hours, avoiding abusive practices.
• Guarantees explicit and one-time consent from the client to debit their account, prior to the execution of the installment debits.
• Requires lenders to notify their clients electronically the business day before the debit impacts the account.
• Ensures the possibility to immediately revoke consent, both with the lender and with the account provider that will be debited.
• Restricts its use to financial entities and non-financial credit providers (PNFC) authorized by the BCRA.
• Defines a remuneration scheme with a minimum fee of 0.6%, which must be paid by lenders and distributed proportionally among participants, aiming to incentivize competition and service offerings.
• Assigns responsibility for fraud cases to the lender, aligning incentives for responsible use of the new collection mechanism.

Limited Use by Banks

Sources from the banking sector confirmed to Ámbito that the system will start functioning on Monday. However, they indicated that it is expected to have limited reach because debts can only be collected from the accounts where the loans were deposited. Most entities are likely to avoid using it because they do not want to make disbursements into accounts operated by other entities.

Banks believe that, generally, CVU accounts from virtual wallets do not have available balances. This happens because people transfer money to money market fund accounts to earn a return. If a wallet or bank wanted to deposit a loan into a wallet account, they might find that the account has no funds at the time of the debit.

Banks indicate that the mechanism could mainly serve financial institutions that already deposit their loans into bank accounts. Now, instead of waiting for the debtor's voluntary transfer, they will be able to debit the amount directly from the account, although they estimate that its use will not be widespread.

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