Strategies for Legal Protection of the Defendant in Disputes Over the Loan Debt Collection
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21564/2225-6555.2026.29.360323Keywords:
credit legal relations, protection of borrowers’ rights, electronic contract, civil proceedings, commercial proceedings, judicial reviewAbstract
In the context of economic instability and the expansion of digitalisation in the financial sector, there has been a significant increase in the number of court disputes related to the recovery of credit debt. The defendant (borrower in substantive legal relations) is typically the weaker party, which necessitates the development of effective protection mechanisms. In this regard, the purpose of the article is to analyse procedural and substantive legal instruments for protecting the rights of the defendant in credit disputes, taking into account recent judicial practice. To examine legislative acts and legal positions of the Supreme Court, the study employs formal-legal, case law analysis, comparative legal, and system-structural methods. The effectiveness of both passive and active defence strategies is analysed, including challenging the conclusion of electronic contracts, disputing the assignment of claims under factoring agreements (especially about "future claims"), applying statutes of limitations, and using the specific legal regime of martial law. The article emphasises the need for further research into issues of collective protection of debtors’ rights and the improvement of mechanisms to combat fraud in the online lending field.
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