Contract trap · Loan and credit
Debt sold to collectors
The lender may sell or assign the loan and your personal data to third parties (collectors, 'special financial companies') without notice; you pre-consent to contact by any new creditor; some contracts make you waive defenses you had against the original lender.
- Severity
- Expensive
- How often it turns up
- Almost always
- Holds up?
- Depends where you are
- Clause phrases
- 14
What it looks like in a contract
Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.
In English-language contracts
- we may sell, assign or transfer your Account
- without notice to you
- successors and assigns
- you waive any defenses against any assignee
- we may share your information with debt buyers
- any sale, assignment, or transfer by us of your Account
In Russian-language contracts
- Кредитор вправе уступить права (требования) третьим лицам
- уступка прав требования
- Заемщик выражает согласие на уступку
- любому третьему лицу
- передача персональных данных новому кредитору
- согласие на взаимодействие с новым кредитором
- коллекторское агентство
- запрет уступки
Check your own contract
Paste a clause, a page or the whole document. Nothing leaves your browser: the matching runs here, on this page, against the phrases above.
Why it bites
Collectors buy debt for pennies and pursue it with fees; the assignee may not honor promotional terms; your data spreads across the collection industry.
Is it enforceable where you are
The same clause can be routine in one country and void in another. What follows is what the law says where you are — not advice on your particular contract.
In the US, TILA/Regulation Z governs disclosure and the CFPB polices unfair practices; in the EU, the Consumer Credit Directive and Directive 93/13 apply, and the CJEU has repeatedly struck price and rate clauses that a borrower could not have understood.
United States
Assignment freely allowed; FTC Holder Rule (16 CFR 433) preserves consumer claims against assignees of dealer-arranged credit; FDCPA governs collector conduct; waiver-of-defense clauses limited for consumers (UCC 9-403(e)).
- Cited
- 16 CFR 433
- FDCPA
- FTC
- UCC
European Union
Directive 93/13 Annex 1(p) — transfers that reduce consumer guarantees are unfair; Directive 2021/2167 on credit servicers gives borrowers information rights when NPLs are sold.
- Cited
- 93/13 Annex 1(p)
- Directive 2021/216
- Directive 93/13
United Kingdom
Assignment allowed with notice (CCA s. 82A); debt buyers must be FCA-authorised and comply with CONC 7.
- Cited
- CCA s. 82A
- CONC 7
- FCA
Russia
353-ФЗ ст. 12 — assignment only to licensed lenders, collectors in the ФССП registry or СФО; the borrower may prohibit assignment in the individual conditions; 230-ФЗ limits collector contact; assignment to an unregistered buyer is void.
- Cited
- 230-ФЗ
- 353-ФЗ
- ст. 12
Where this has actually happened
Regulator actions, court rulings and the contracts they were fought over.
- Долями, Правила (2026): «Клиент соглашается на любое взаимодействие с любым новым кредитором, которому были уступлены права (требования)»
- FTC Holder Rule (16 CFR 433) — mandatory notice preserving consumer claims against assignees
What to do
In order, from the thing that takes a minute to the thing that takes a letter.
- RU: tick «запрещаю уступку» in the individual conditions — 353-ФЗ ст. 12 gives you the choice and lenders pre-fill «разрешаю»
- US: keep the FTC Holder Rule notice and demand validation from any assignee
- Everywhere verify the assignee is licensed or registered before paying.
Traps that travel with it
Drafters who use one of these usually use several.