The National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services (Condusef), led by Óscar Rosado Jiménez, has spoken publicly about the opinion approved by the Chamber of Deputies on payroll credit with delegated collection.
“Since the presentation of the opinion in the Senatewe have raised considerations aimed at protecting the interests of worker-users of payroll loans with delegated collection, which currently operate outside of any provision,” Condusef said in a statement.
The publication of the document took place after the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected the opinion, endorsed in the Chamber of Deputies and returned to the Senate for analysis and final approval.
“I do not agree with this reform, I do not think that workers’ salaries should be seized under any circumstance, the salary is sacred and what allows the sustenance of families and the payroll cannot be used, appropriating the payroll of the worker, no bank should do it and the government should not lend itself to doing it,” said the president during his tour of the state of Veracruz.
The Condusef He explained that there are several points that must be taken into account in order not to violate the labor rights of people:
- In the first place, it points out that the opinion is contrary to the principle of progressiveness established in article 1 of the Constitution, which establishes that rights cannot be limited, restricted, eliminated or ignored in any way to the detriment of citizens. In addition, it violates the rights of the people established in the Federal Labor Law and the Federal Law of Workers in the Service of the Stateas well as criteria of the Judiciary regarding salary protection.
- Regarding the warrant (agreement that allows your employer to deduct from your salary in favor of the creditor), the Condusef indicated that this irrevocable figure is a measure that totally limits the possibility that users change institution or type of credit, if it is not convenient.
- The Condusef highlighted that the over-indebtedness to which a considerable part of public sector employees has been exposed has led to a high number of workers receiving amounts of their salary well below their subsistence, which generates a social problem.
- He also highlighted the high cost of this type of financing for workers, specifically that they are granted by multiple purpose financial companies, which “exceed the interest rates that other agents of the Mexican financial system offer for payroll loans or personal loans, For example, banks.
- The agency highlighted that the so-called “nomineras” have granted loans to workers whose credit risk is low, since the source of payment is guaranteed through the worker’s own salary, which does not justify the high interest rates.
- Another point of risk for the Condusef is that the opinion establishes excessive obligations for the employers, among which could be the federal, state and municipal governments, to give notice regarding the disposition of the credit resources to the borrowers, which the would practically become a depositary and jointly liable with all the corresponding legal effects.
- “The administration of the withholding of the payroll and the integers to the financial institution become a burden for the human resources areas of the employers, without the possibility of making any payment.”
The Condusef stressed that it is respectful of the decisions of the Legislative power; however, it is prudent to clearly point out the inconveniences and serious effects on the economy of the workers, if a scheme is authorized that, although it intends to regulate, it does not do so in an equitable manner and safeguarding the interest of the users.
This call is added to the rejection that the Secretary of Finance, through its Banking, Securities and Savings Unit, made regarding the opinion. “It would be benefiting disproportionately and unequally, the financial entities, to the detriment of the workers, who, in exchange for the irrevocability of their consent, would not receive reasonable rates.”
Contrary to these rejections, the Mexican Association of Payroll Companies (Amden) indicated that said opinion is pertinent because it gives certainty to the financial entities of this market, to the market and, especially to the user by empowering the Condusef to have greater vigilance in this regard.
“With this reform you win because you have a regulated product, which is protected by law, then, the workers win because they have access to credit in a clear and transparent way and the employers win because they offer their workers a good credit It is an orderly and formal service,” Gustavo Martín del Campo, president of Amden, commented to this medium.
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