CGU sees INSS consignees with rates above the ceiling, transparency problems and control failures

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Report analyzed the federal agency’s performance in supervising and monitoring loans in 2022 and 2023. For auditors, failures leave beneficiaries more vulnerable to fraud. The Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) identified flaws in the INSS’s internal controls in the management of payroll loans, including authorizations of personal loans without compliance with legal criteria, problems in the periodic monitoring of compliance with standards by the institutions that make the loans and lack of disclosure of minimum information to beneficiaries. Among the main points highlighted by the audit, whose report was released on Wednesday (21), are the approximately 20% of loans identified (in a sample of more than 3 million loans) made with rates above the permitted ceiling. National Consumer Secretariat received more than 28 thousand complaints about payroll loans in 2023. Reproduction/JN According to the CGU, in May 2023 — the audit’s benchmark — at least 14.1 million beneficiaries had discounts for payment of payroll loans, practically all of them personal loans, totaling R$7 billion in that month alone . g1 questioned the INSS regarding the report’s conclusions and is awaiting a response. Rates above the ceiling The auditors analyzed ten different criteria to check the regularity of loan authorization and identified problems in two of them: benefits eligible for loans and the maximum interest rate charged on personal loans. In a sample involving 3.1 million active personal loan contracts, the auditors identified 623.7 thousand (20.1%) with a calculated interest rate higher than the expected ceiling — which varied between 2.14% and 1.70 % in the analyzed period. INSS payroll contracts analyzed by the CGU with indications of rates higher than the ceiling For the CGU, the problems may be in the records made by the institutions or in the verification by the INSS of compliance with the rules, including undue interest rates or incorporation of disallowed expenses . “It is concluded that the controls implemented are not sufficient to ensure the quality of information on contracted personal loans (…) a large part of the system’s records had inconsistencies in their completion, including regarding the amounts of the loans contracted”, says the document. Also according to the auditors, “the situations reported are detrimental to the monitoring of operations by the INSS, to a certain extent making it impossible to carry out certain checks, especially in relation to compliance with the limits established for charging interest.” Lack of data In the analysis, the auditors identified that in 2 out of 3 active contracts there were problems with the information on the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF), a piece of data necessary to confirm whether specific fees were charged. In another topic of the analysis, the CGU recorded that — in more than half of the contracts analyzed — the value recorded as the loan was wrong, “which would indicate a loan without charging interest. Cases with a value released equal to zero, with a released value greater than the amount of the contracted loan and with a value of the contracted loan greater than the total amount payable”, says the text. The CGU highlighted that in June last year, during the audit, new rules on the subject were published, but even the new ordinance had restrictions on the requirement for information that would facilitate the verification of the regularity of loans. Febraban registers 3,000 reports and complaints per day against banks and financial institutions offering payroll loans. Monitoring problems The report also addressed the monitoring by the INSS of the institutions that make the loans, including compliance with standards and evaluation of complaints from beneficiaries, among other criteria. In practice, however, the auditors state that “the tests carried out indicate that periodic monitoring routines that covered the responsibilities expressed” in the rules were not implemented and that “a routine for analyzing e-Consignado data was not implemented by the INSS, in order to monitor the adequacy of registered credit agreements and discounts made”. “Furthermore”, the document continues, “the existence of weaknesses related to the completeness and reliability of the information recorded in e-Consignado, as well as possible failures in the functioning of the system’s validation rules, make it impossible to carry out adequate monitoring of the performance of institutions.” According to the report, the lack of reliable information prevents the INSS from monitoring, for example, the value of interest rates charged in each contract, the total effective cost of operations and whether or not prohibited administrative fees are being charged. The auditors also identified problems in the Consignment Management Panel for Consigned Loans, a tool created to provide transparency to information but which, according to the report, presents “outdated data and discrepancies in information in relation to the database.” Regarding the supervision of institutions that carry out loans, the finding was that “a continuous monitoring routine was not implemented in relation to registered complaints.” In 2022, the auditors highlighted, payroll loans were the third topic in complaints on the consumer.gov.br platform, being the topic with the most complaints among people over 60 years of age. Transparency failures The Comptroller General of the Union also analyzed the INSS’s transparency on the subject and concluded that the body “has not been observing regulatory obligations regarding the updated publication of the minimum information required about the agreed consignee institutions and general information about consigned credit.” Among the data that does not receive the expected transparency, according to the auditors, is the updated and detailed list of institutions with active agreements to carry out assigned credits. During the audit, at least twelve institutions were identified with an active agreement to offer payroll loans outside the list. “The disclosure of the list of agreeing consignee institutions that are or are not operating loan endorsements on benefits paid by the INSS is relevant for reasons of transparency and to make it possible to mitigate the occurrence of losses to beneficiaries due to fraud committed by third parties”, says the document . For the CGU, transparency with the disclosure of more information on the topic would bring benefits and reduce risks for the population. “The publication of the aforementioned information, by ensuring greater transparency of actions, can facilitate monitoring of the topic by various actors, and can mitigate risks related to misinformation, reducing the susceptibility of beneficiaries to fraud and over-indebtedness”, assesses the report.

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