MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow on Friday dismissed a class action suit by 52 currency mortgage debtors demanding loan restructuring from Moskommertsbank, RAPSI learnt in the court's press office.

Plaintiffs asked the court to order Moskommertsbank to restructure mortgage lending agreements in accordance with the rate recommended by the Central Bank of Russia in January 2015.

According to the plaintiffs’ lawyer Vyacheslav Kurilin, amounts of debtors’ payments have increased greatly because of jump in currency rate. “They could not foresee such material change of conditions,” he said in court. Kurilin reminded that the Central Bank of Russia gives breaks to banks but not to ordinary clients, therefore, it is impossible to speak of “equality of participants.” Debtors in their lawsuit asked “to institute simple rules,” he added.

Bank clients who did not pay off their foreign currency mortgages by the fall of 2014 have been badly affected by the rapid growth of the dollar against the Russian national currency, which doubled by the end of 2014.

On January 23, 2015, the Central Bank of Russia recommended that the banks consider restructuring foreign currency mortgage loans to the exchange rate when the dollar cost 39.40 rubles, or the official exchange rate set by the regulator for October 1, 2014. The Central Bank also recommended that lenders adjust interest on foreign currency mortgage loans issued before January 1, 2015 to that of ruble loans.