Commission approves Legal Framework for Loan Guarantees

The Senate Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) approved today (5), in a symbolic vote, the text of the Bill (PL) 4,188/2021 that establishes the Legal Framework for Loan Guarantees. The proposal, which is now being considered by the plenary of the House, changes rules that deal with loan guarantees in order to reduce the risk of default. The committee also approved an urgent request for the matter, which may be voted on in the Senate this week.

The project originates from the Executive Branch, but the senators approved a substitute text by the rapporteur Weverton (PDT-MA), whose proposal aims to legally reduce the bureaucracy of credit guarantees, will contribute to reducing the cost of credit, that is, interest rates in the country. The senator said that the measure does not represent any additional danger of increasing the population’s indebtedness.

“The existing bureaucracies increase interest rates and make it difficult to make loans by reducing the quality of guarantees”, wrote the senator in his opinion. The market and society end up bearing the negative consequences of this, such as the impossibility of new ventures and of several individual professional projects. It becomes more difficult for Brazilian families to acquire important goods for their daily lives and even for their work, such as cars, appliances, computers and cell phones”, he added.

The proposal deals, in general, with the dejudicialization of the execution of judicial and extrajudicial enforceable title, detailing the procedures for the recovery of assets, seeking to simplify this process. Currently, with the exception of real estate, creditors need to go to court to collect the assets given as collateral in case of default. The text, which extends the possibility of using movable property in extrajudicial collection in case of default, opens up the possibility that negotiations can be carried out between the parties.

The senators maintained in the project the possibility of a single property being used as collateral for more than one loan. But, according to the approved text, it is forbidden to seize the only property of a family to pay debts.

One of the points that caused the most divergence is the possibility that notes and protest notaries, in addition to auctioneers, could also carry out judicial or extrajudicial auctions or requests from interested parties for payment of debts. The excerpt from was the subject of a request for a view that postponed the vote in the collegiate, initially scheduled for yesterday (4).

After negotiating with the senators, Weverton said he could change the stretch, but recognized the need and greater maturity of the debate.

The rapporteur once again included in the proposal the monopoly of Caixa Econômica Federal in permanent and continuous civil pledge operations. Weverton also zeroed the Income Tax rate on income from beneficiaries domiciled abroad involving investment funds.

The rapporteur removed from the project the possibility of specialized guarantee management services, which would be provided by the Guarantee Management Institutions (IGGs). They would act as intermediaries to assess the values ​​of the debtor’s assets, and may even promote the execution of the debt.

In justifying the exclusion, the senator said that the creation of this type of mechanism would bring bureaucracy to the system of guarantees, “since the credit institutions already constituted have full capacity to serve the population.” If the changes are confirmed, the text must go back to the Chamber.