The article discusses the credit history of a number of well-known Russian aristocrats and dignitaries - clients of the St. Petersburg office of the state bank. The noted clientele used various services of this institution, however, loans for rural owners and industrial loans were the most demanded. Possessing significant land holdings, aristocrats and dignitaries especially needed working capital to maintain a sufficient level of production in their estates or at factory enterprises. Moreover, in most cases, their credit relations with the capital office of the State Bank were complicated by the frequent disruption of payments both at interest rates and the repayment of capital debts. Obviously, the process of adapting this category of bank customers to the economic requirements of the time was at the end of the 19th - 20th centuries. relatively hard. Not everyone was able to maintain their position in the country’s product market.