Year over year, the number of complaints about collectors has increased 1.5 times

The National Bank of Ukraine has received 3,101 complaints about debt collection companies since the new law on debt collection came into force in 2021. More than 60% of these complaints were submitted in just the past two years.

For reference, you can learn where to file a complaint and how to protect your rights through the service developed by Opendatabot and the NBU to combat illegal actions by debt collectors.

958 complaints against debt collection companies have already been recorded this year — more than during the whole of last year. On average, the National Bank receives 104 complaints per month, which is one-third more than last year and twice as many as in 2023.

It’s worth noting that since 2021, only collectors registered in the NBU’s official Registry of Collection Companies are allowed to contact debtors. If they violate the rules set out in the law, they can face sanctions — ranging from fines to operational restrictions or even removal from the registry.

Since the registry was launched, 82 companies have been included. The first year saw the most activity — 62 companies were registered then. Later, the process slowed: only 5 companies were added in 2022, and just 1 so far in 2025. As of now, 74 companies remain in the NBU’s registry.

Over this period, 8 companies lost their right to operate on the market — half voluntarily, and the rest due to violations of legal requirements. Among those removed were two companies named “Credit Enforcement Service”, both owned by the UK-based EXTRA VENTURE LTD.

More than 70% of all registered collection companies are based in Kyiv (54 firms), while 6 operate in Zaporizhzhia region and 5 in Chernihiv region.

The total revenue of the 74 collection companies last year reached ₴1.01 billion, with a net profit of ₴384.7 million.

The absolute leader was the financial company EAPB, part of Serhiy Tihipko’s TAS financial-industrial group. In 2024, its revenue amounted to ₴409.2 million, and profit — ₴156.4 million. Together with another affiliated EAPB company also listed in the registry, the TAS Group generated 41% of the industry’s total revenue and an impressive 80% of its total net profit.

The top three leaders in the industry also include Smartfinance, with a revenue of ₴90.3 million (owned by Olha Duma and Oleksandr Drozd), and CrediExpress Ukraine LLC, which earned ₴71.3 million (beneficial owner — Gosta Lennart Ogren from Sweden). Together with Ogren’s second company, Debtfort Ukraine, their combined revenue reached nearly ₴93 million.

It’s worth noting that many companies in the registry share the same owner. The record belongs to Vyacheslav Holub, who owns eight companies — that’s nearly one in nine in the entire registry. Collectively, his firms earned ₴52.8 million in revenue and ₴4 million in net profit in 2024.