The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), through its Banking, Securities and Savings Unit, has spoken out against the draft opinion on the reform that would try to regulate payroll credit with a figure called delegated collection and that may be voted on today in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, once it passed through commissions.
In a document obtained by this means, dated March 7, the agency in charge of Rogelio Ramírez de la O affirms that, in case of not making the pertinent corrections to the project, it would benefit in a “disproportionate and inequitable” way to the financial entities that grant this type of financing and would be detrimental to the workers who acquire these loans.
“The SHCP through the Banking, Securities and Savings Unit (UBVA), in the field of competence of said Unit, pronounces itself against the draft opinion”, can be read in the document and adds that corrections must be made that would grant the minimum indispensable measures to safeguard the balance between the rights of the workers and the accrediting financial institutions.
On March 8, the Treasury and Public Credit Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved with 21 votes in favor and 18 against the opinion with draft decree to the minute to reform and add various provisions of the General Law of Titles and Credit Operations, of the General of Auxiliary Credit Organizations and Activities, and of Protection and Defense to the User of Financial Services.
According to the project, its purpose is to include the figure of delegated collection in these financings, that is, that a third party (such as an employer) can, with prior authorization from the borrower, make the entire financing payments from the beneficiary’s salary. loan, or labor or related benefits.
Likewise, said project contemplates the figure of the draft, which is defined as an act by means of which said borrower will instruct his employer, or the social security institution to which he is affiliated, so that, in his name and account, a partial or total payment of payroll credit that he received
For the Treasury, it is necessary to establish the exception so that the accredited person can revoke the draft, so it is pertinent to include an article that contains the hypothesis under which the accredited workers can revoke their draft, for example, in the event that financing exceeds more than 1.40 times the average Annual Cost of the most recent quarter applicable to bank financing associated with payroll.
In addition, the Treasury suggests incorporating an article so that the compliance agreements, among payroll and companies (whether from the private or government sphere), can adjust to this regulation for the credits that are granted under said agreements, in order to avoid arbitration in the law.
The document warns that if these suggestions are not adopted, the workers who benefit from these loans would give their consent so that their employer disposes of their salary irrevocably and without any possibility of canceling this type of financing, which has a cat which does not correspond to the low risk of non-payment associated with the borrower’s payroll.
“The foregoing means that financial entities would be benefiting disproportionately and unequally, to the detriment of workers, who, in exchange for the irrevocability of their consent, would not receive reasonable rates,” highlights the Treasury document.
“It raises incentives for financial entities so as not to have to lower their rates, and risks of over indebtedness and loss of well-being in the face of high credit costs. These omissions pose a clear imbalance in the benefits of the reform to the detriment of workers,” adds the Treasury document.
In this context, the Treasury suggests that the project consider that employers accept agreements from other lenders, when the CAT of the financing is greater than the formula proposed by this agency, as well as sanctions for employers who fail to comply with this provision.
“The power of the Condusef (National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services) should be provided for to issue general provisions, through which guidelines are established to verify the indebtedness capacity of the employer” , highlights the document.
It also suggests actions so that Condusef can be more involved in the event of a dispute with an entity that offers this type of financing.
The project establishes that only legal entities that have the nature of financial entities, whether multiple banking institutions or multiple purpose financial companies, can be creditors of payroll loans.
Opinions against
Mario Di Costanzo, specialist in financial matters and former president of Condusef, indicated that payroll loans usually have a high cost for workers, despite the fact that the risk of non-payment is minimal, especially in sofomes that make agreements with government entities. .
“These societies called sofomes, known as nominee sofomes, work a lot with associations such as unions and dependencies, to offer loans to workers, where the only thing they ask for is the payment stub (of salary) and perhaps an authorization to carry out after the payroll deduction… In these loans granted by the sofomes, rates three or four times higher than bank payroll loans are charged,” said Di Costanzo.
For some months, civil society organizations, such as El Barzón in Veracruz, have expressed their opposition to this project, because the employer would be responsible if the borrower does not repay his loan, for which he would be at risk of being embargoed without the need for a commercial trial, as is currently required.
Likewise, they warned that with this project it would attack workers’ perceptions that, due to the regulations and the Constitution, cannot be touched, such as salary earned, pension or annuityavailable balances in retirement savings accounts or fees in favor of the worker.
“It is an unconstitutional reform. The salary and pensions by provision of the law are unattachable, they can only be subject to seizure through a trial and a court order, “warned the representation of El Barzón in Veracruz.
The reform was promoted since 2018, by the then senators of Morena, Pedro Miguel Haces Barba (union leader) and Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero, currently governor of Nayarit.