Article 121 of the Law on Financial Institutions establishes that only persons who are part of the national financial system and have the certificate of the Superintendency of Banks can raise and lend money.
Usury as a violation of the law is civil and criminal. In the civil sphere there are the provisions of Arts. 2115 of the Civil Code and 163 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In the criminal sphere, usury is contemplated in Article 583 et seq. Of the Penal Code.
Lenders are multiplying throughout Ecuadorian territory, with the pretext of helping people who do not have access to loans from financial institutions due to their complex procedures and requirements.
This illegal business has gained space in the economies of several provinces of the country. “Lenders” provide quick money, with high interest, that is, they receive returns higher than the maximum allowed by law, either directly or camouflaged.
On the basis of usury, many people have increased their patrimonial wealth and amassed large fortunes backed and secured with documents such as bills of exchange, checks, gifts or mortgages.
This crime is aggravated by the lack of drastic sanctions and the thousands of injured people who increasingly cry for justice and reopen their cases in the corresponding judicial instances.
Easy process dire consequences
When several people were consulted about the reason that prompted them not to make loans at a financial institution, they simply replied: “” Chulqueros give us fast money and without so much paperwork. ”
This shows that people from emerging needs come to these illegal lending centers to pawn their belongings, most of which can not be recovered, but, on the contrary, remain in the hands of these usurious people.
MODUS OPERANDI
1.- Lenders offer loans to business owners or debtors.
2.- To receive the money, the victims sign blank letters. Condition of the chulqueros.
3.- The collection is generally done door-to-door on motorcycle (interest of 10 to 15% monthly).
4.- If they do not pay the required amounts, the business owners are threatened or assaulted
5.- By not paying, the usurer can sue and seize his property.
LEGAL ARGUMENTS
Art. 583. (Usury) A loan is used in which, directly or indirectly, an interest greater than that allowed by law or other usurious advantages is stipulated.
The ninth provision of the Law for the Economic Transformation of Ecuador (L.2000-4 RO-S 34; March 13, 2000), states: “As of the validity of this law, the legal rate to which Referred to in Article 583 of the Penal Code will be fixed periodically and mandatorily by the Board of the Central Bank of Ecuador, for this purpose will be taken into account the LIBOR rate plus country risk technically qualified by specialized technical bodies and officially recognized by the Central Bank of Ecuador, plus an additional margin that will not exceed four points. This fee will be published monthly for citizens’ awareness. In case of breach of this rule, the members of the Board of the Central Bank of Ecuador will be prosecuted for the omission of the usury crime. ”
Art. 584. (Penalty) .- It will be reprimanded with the penalty of imprisonment of six months to two years and fine of sixteen to three hundred and eleven dollars of the United States of North America that is dedicated to usurious loans.
Art. 585 .- (Usury cover-up) .- It will be repressed with imprisonment of two to four years and a fine of one thousand dollars of the United States of America which will conceal, under another contractual form, the reality of a usurious loan.
Art. 586.- (Lender without accounting) .- It is repressed with imprisonment of two to four years and a fine of five hundred dollars of the United States of America, that being dedicated to the industry of loans, on garments, salaries or wages, I will not carry books, setting in them the amounts lent, deadlines and interests, the names and addresses of those who receive the loan, the nature, quality and value of the objects given in pledge and other circumstances that require The regulations or ordinances of the matter; Or were convicted of falsehood in the seats of said books.
Art. 587.- (Lack of backup) .- The lender who does not give protection of the pledge or warranty received, will be reprimanded with a fine of double to quintuple of its value and can not be left in suspense the fulfillment of the sentence.
Article 121.- (Reformed by the first reformatory provision of Law 2001-55, RO 465-S, 30-XI-2001) .- Natural or legal persons that are not part of the financial system and do not have the respective Certificate issued by the Superintendency of Banks and Insurance, within the scope of its competence, are expressly prohibited from carrying out operations reserved for the institutions that make up such system, especially the collection of resources from the public, except for the issuance of obligations when it is protected Of the Securities Market Law. Neither may advertise or use advertisements, posters, receipts, letterheads, titles or any other means that suggests that the business of said person is financial or insurance. The Superintendency will issue the regulations on this matter.
Violations of the provisions of the previous paragraph will be punished according to what is prescribed in article 563 of the Penal Code.
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