{"id":2020,"date":"2026-04-03T19:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/restrukturizacziya-dolga-po-kreditu\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T04:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T01:31:40","slug":"restrukturizacziya-borgu-za-kreditom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/en\/blog\/restrukturizacziya-borgu-za-kreditom\/","title":{"rendered":"Restructuring loan debt in 2026: conditions, timeframes, cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Restructuring a loan means changing the essential terms of the contract under Article 17 of the Law \u201cOn Consumer Lending\u201d: the term, the schedule or the instalment. The bank considers the borrower\u2019s application within thirty days and is not obliged to agree. If it refuses, what remains is court restructuring under the Code on Bankruptcy Procedures, with a plan of up to five years \u2014 but that requires an advance of 49,920 UAH.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 2026 the minimum wage is 8,647 UAH and the subsistence minimum for working-age people 3,328 UAH, and every cost facing a borrower who wants to lighten the payment lawfully is calculated from those figures. Restructuring does not write off the debt: it moves it in time, changes the schedule and usually increases the total paid.<\/p>\n

So the decision must rest on arithmetic, not on the wish to buy a few calm months. There are two different mechanisms with different consequences: contractual restructuring, which a bank grants at its own discretion, and court restructuring, which runs inside insolvency proceedings and affects every creditor at once.<\/p>\n

What the law means by restructuring<\/h2>\n

Article 17 of the Law \u201cOn Consumer Lending\u201d defines restructuring as amending the essential terms of the contract so that the conditions or the manner of repaying change. That may be extending the term, changing the schedule, cutting the monthly instalment and moving the principal to the end, or partly forgiving accrued penalties. The mechanism rests on Article 651 of the Civil Code: a contract is changed by agreement, and the bank may refuse without giving reasons.<\/p>\n

A separate case is where the parties end the old obligation entirely and enter a new one. That is novation under Article 604, and it has an important consequence: along with the old obligation, guarantees and other security end unless the guarantor consented to the new terms. Banks know this and usually draw up a supplemental agreement rather than a new contract.<\/p>\n

For some borrowers restructuring is not a matter of the bank\u2019s goodwill. The final and transitional provisions of the Law \u201cOn Consumer Lending\u201d provide for compulsory restructuring of unsecured consumer loans made before 24 February 2022, where there is no judgment and no open enforcement proceedings. The debt is then repaid in equal instalments over three years, or to the end of the original term if that is longer.<\/p>\n

Bank restructuring: what is actually on offer<\/h2>\n

A bank assesses not how hard your situation is but how likely it is to get its money back. So the real offers come down to a few standard structures: payment holidays with interest only, extending the term and cutting the instalment, capitalising the arrears into the principal, moving from an annuity schedule to a classic one. The first remains the commonest \u2014 and the most expensive in the long run, since the principal does not fall at all in the meantime.<\/p>\n

What a bank may recover beyond principal and interest is capped. Article 21 of the Law \u201cOn Consumer Lending\u201d provides that the total penalty for a consumer\u2019s breach may not exceed half the sum received under the contract and may not be increased by agreement. If the penalty in the bank\u2019s calculation exceeds that ceiling, it is challenged before any talk of a schedule, and the debt falls without any restructuring at all. Checking the calculation is where our loan restructuring<\/a> work begins.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Court restructuring under the Code on Bankruptcy Procedures<\/h2>\n

Where the bank has refused and the old terms are unaffordable, the procedure in the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures applies. Proceedings against an individual open only on the debtor\u2019s own application. Article 115 sets out the grounds: the debtor has stopped paying more than half the monthly instalments on each obligation for two months, or has no assets to enforce against, or shows signs of impending insolvency.<\/p>\n

The application goes to the commercial court where the debtor lives, with proof of advancing three months of the restructuring practitioner\u2019s fee. The basic fee is five subsistence minimums for working-age people a month, that is 16,640 UAH, so the three-month advance is 49,920 UAH. That is the main reason the procedure does not suit a debt of a few tens of thousands.<\/p>\n

Once proceedings open a moratorium applies: banks and collectors cannot pursue the debt or charge penalties, and enforcement proceedings are suspended. The practitioner prepares a restructuring plan of up to five years, which the creditors\u2019 meeting approves and the court confirms. If the plan cannot be performed, the court declares the debtor bankrupt and moves to selling the assets, after which the remaining debts are written off, except maintenance and compensation for harm to life and health. That route is described in more detail on the page about personal bankruptcy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Instrument<\/th>\nWho decides<\/th>\nTimeframe<\/th>\nWhat happens to the debt<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
A supplemental agreement with the bank<\/td>\nThe bank, at its discretion<\/td>\nup to 30 days to consider the application<\/td>\nstays in full; the total cost rises<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Compulsory restructuring of a pre-24.02.2022 loan<\/td>\nThe bank, on the borrower\u2019s demand<\/td>\nrepayment over up to 3 years<\/td>\nsplit into equal instalments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A restructuring plan under the Code<\/td>\nThe court and the creditors\u2019 meeting<\/td>\nup to 5 years<\/td>\npart may be forgiven by the plan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bankruptcy and sale of assets<\/td>\nThe commercial court<\/td>\nfrom 12 months<\/td>\nwritten off, except maintenance and harm to health<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

What happens to penalties, collectors and the credit history<\/h2>\n

While the correspondence with the bank runs, the charges do not stop: interest accrues on the overdue sum, and under Article 625 the creditor may also claim inflation losses and three per cent per annum. Restructuring does not cancel what has already accrued unless the agreement says so expressly, so the clause writing off penalties and interest must go into the text rather than be agreed orally.<\/p>\n

The bank may sell the claim. Since 30 July 2026 the Law \u201cOn Factoring\u201d No. 4466-IX has regulated such operations, while conduct in recovering overdue debt is governed by the Law \u201cOn Consumer Lending\u201d. A company demanding money from you must appear in the National Bank\u2019s register of debt collection companies; if it does not, the calls are grounds for a complaint to the regulator. Buying your own debt at a discount is also possible and is sometimes cheaper than any restructuring \u2014 we write about that on the page on debt purchase<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A restructuring entry goes into the credit history and is read by future lenders as a sign of trouble. Information stays in the credit bureaux for ten years from the day the obligation ends, so a mortgage the year after a restructuring is not realistic.<\/p>\n

What to do, in order<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Ask the bank for an official statement of the debt broken down into principal, interest, penalties and fees. Check whether the penalty exceeds the ceiling in Article 21 of the Law \u201cOn Consumer Lending\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. Gather evidence that your finances have changed: an income certificate, a redundancy order, a mobilisation record, medical documents. Without them the application reads as a plea rather than a reasoned proposal.<\/li>\n
  3. File a written application for restructuring with a specific schedule proposed. The bank has up to thirty days; insist on a written answer.<\/li>\n
  4. Check any offer against the original contract before signing: look at the total cost, the fee for amending the terms and whether accrued penalties are written off.<\/li>\n
  5. If the bank refuses and payments have stopped for more than two months, cost the insolvency procedure: 49,920 UAH of advance plus legal fees. Weigh it against the size of the debt.<\/li>\n
  6. After signing, keep every receipt and statement: they are what proves the plan was performed if the bank later alleges default.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Typical mistakes<\/h2>\n