Banks address their strategic defaulters

Some 400,000 borrowers with expired debts are about to be labeled "noncooperative" by banks, as they avoid any contact and communication with their lenders.

These borrowers amount for 30-40 percent (depending on the bank) of those who have already received the two letters, as dictated by the banks' Ethics Code, and have not responded. The final stage is a third letter through which the bank will inform them they are deemed noncooperative, after which warnings follow that may lead to confiscations or auctions.

The prospect of auction is a reality for a significant portion of those borrowers. Banks have already started the process of sending out third letters and expect to see how many of those clients end up in the category of strategic defaulters. Estimates bring the share of strategic defaulters to 20 percent of the aforementioned borrowers, and they are the group who...