Affected by the epidemic, whether borrowers living in isolation can postpone their mortgage repayment has become a hot topic. Recently, a number of large state-owned banks, joint-stock banks and local banks have responded one after another and will give grace period support for repayment according to the epidemic situation in different regions. However, it is noteworthy that on April 7, the reporter of Beijing business daily noted during the investigation that the current standards of banks for identifying specific groups are not unified. Whether the specific extension depends on the review. Buyers need to retain the necessary supporting materials such as the notice of community closure and isolation certificate. In addition, although a number of banks have issued corresponding credit investigation and protection service measures, buyers should timely consult the local network for policy adjustment time to avoid being reported for credit investigation due to overdue records.
deferred repayment population standards vary
Recently, a topic of “it is necessary to put the mortgage repayment on the agenda due to the epidemic” was posted on the microblog hot search. Under the severe situation of epidemic prevention and control and the adoption of sealing and control measures in many places, home isolation has become the norm, and whether the mortgage repayment can be postponed has become a topic of public concern.
It is understood that at present, many banks, including Bank Of China Limited(601988) , Bank Of Communications Co.Ltd(601328) , Industrial Bank Co.Ltd(601166) , China Citic Bank Corporation Limited(601998) , China Zheshang Bank Co.Ltd(601916) , Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, Zhangjiagang rural commercial bank and Jiangyin rural commercial bank, have issued warm-hearted policies such as repayment extension, credit investigation and relief support for different epidemic affected areas, but the standards recognized by banks for repayment groups are also different.
On April 7, the reporter of Beijing business daily consulted some bank customer service personnel as a customer Bank Of China Limited(601988) customer service staff said that at present, the bank has issued relevant policies for Jilin Province. Personnel hospitalized or isolated for covid-19 pneumonia during the epidemic, personnel who need to be isolated for epidemic prevention and control, personnel participating in epidemic prevention and control, and personnel who temporarily lose income affected by the epidemic can apply for deferred repayment, and the period can be relaxed to 10 days.
Agricultural Bank Of China Limited(601288) customer service personnel pointed out that taking Shanghai as an example, if customers cannot complete personal loans or prepay due to the closure of outlets and the closure of customers’ residence during the epidemic period, they can feed back to the relevant departments for verification. The specific extension depends on the local audit. Customers need to keep the notice of community closure, isolation certificate and other necessary supporting materials.
Bank Of Communications Co.Ltd(601328) customer service personnel mentioned that “at present, our bank has a certain grace period for the mortgage repayment of some customers in Jilin Province, but it is only limited to qualified customers. If the buyer belongs to Party and government organs or institutions, such as some commercial banks, policy banks, securities, insurance, trust, leasing and other industries, the deferred repayment standard will not be recognized”.
Among joint-stock banks, the reporter of Beijing business daily learned from Industrial Bank Co.Ltd(601166) that the Shanghai Branch of the bank will give a grace period of up to 3 months for the repayment of hospitalized or quarantined personnel infected with covid-19 pneumonia, staff participating in epidemic prevention and control and customers whose cash flow is affected under the epidemic, and provide mobile banking online “pay as you go” repayment for mortgage customers, with a maximum of 3 years of non repayment of loan principal, Relieve the repayment pressure.
China Zheshang Bank Co.Ltd(601916) launched the latest deferred repayment policy for customers affected by the epidemic at the beginning of this year. The deferred repayment is applicable to those who are unable to work, infected or quarantined due to the control of epidemic cities announced by the government or classified as medium and high-risk areas, and participate in the fight against the epidemic China Citic Bank Corporation Limited(601998) also said that, depending on the situation of the epidemic in various regions, for customers who are unable to repay on time due to the epidemic, a grace period shall be arranged according to the customer’s application and the repayment period shall be reasonably postponed.
Liang Nan, an analyst at Zhuge housing search data research center, said that banks have different recognition standards for deferred application buyers, mainly due to the lack of unified policies and clear implementation standards, resulting in different implementation efforts of banks. At the same time, it is related to the impact of the epidemic and the population situation of the city. When implementing the extension policy, banks also need to consider the objective situation of the payer, Protect the interests of depositors, etc. In addition, to a certain extent, it also has some relationship with the bank’s own situation, such as the risk it can bear.
has generated overdue records and will still be included in the credit investigation
As early as the 2020 COVID-19 pneumonia outbreak, the central bank, the Ministry of finance, the Banking Regulatory Commission, the SFC and the foreign exchange bureau jointly issued the notice on further strengthening financial support to prevent and control the epidemic of pneumonia in New Coronavirus. For those who participate in the epidemic prevention and control and those who temporarily lose their source of income affected by the epidemic, financial institutions should give appropriate preference to credit policies, flexibly adjust the repayment arrangements of personal credit such as housing mortgage and credit card, and reasonably postpone the repayment period.
In addition to granting a grace period for repayment as appropriate, a number of banks have also introduced relevant measures in credit investigation protection. On April 7, at the 2021 annual report briefing meeting held by Zhangjiagang rural commercial bank, Wu Kai, President of Zhangjiagang rural commercial bank, said that the regulatory authorities had issued corresponding policies for financial services during the epidemic, and Zhangjiagang rural commercial bank had issued corresponding service measures of deferred repayment and credit investigation and protection for the above policies.
On April 6, Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank Co.Ltd(601128) executive director and Secretary of the board of directors Sun Ming said at the bank’s 2021 annual performance briefing: “for those who have temporarily lost their source of income affected by the epidemic, we will give support for the deferred repayment of housing mortgage loans. At the same time, in combination with the situation of customers, we will not include them in the list of defaulting customers and do a good job in credit investigation protection.”
The reporter of Beijing Business Daily also learned from China Zheshang Bank Co.Ltd(601916) that upon the application of customers, the bank provides deferred repayment services for personal housing mortgage, personal consumer loan, special installment, credit card and other products, with a grace period of up to 3 months (or 3 periods). If the customer is overdue within the grace period, it may not affect the customer’s credit investigation record Industrial Bank Co.Ltd(601166) Shanghai Branch said that it would provide credit investigation protection to customers with temporary repayment difficulties caused by the epidemic, and submit credit records in accordance with the adjusted repayment arrangements to avoid damage to the credit investigation records.
Although many banks have pushed to adjust the submission of overdue credit records and protect the rights and interests related to public credit investigation, property buyers should not be careless. A staff member of a state-owned bank in Shanghai told the Beijing Business Daily that under normal circumstances, commercial loans need to ensure that the payment amount of the card covers the mortgage deduction amount before 5 p.m. on the repayment day. If they do not repay on time, they will charge a penalty interest and report it to the credit investigation department. If there are corresponding local policies and qualified personnel to apply, the overdue in the current month will not be regarded as a breach of contract, but the overdue record before adjusting the repayment arrangement will still be reported to the credit investigation department in principle.
A relevant person in charge of a local urban commercial bank said, “during the epidemic period, if my loan is overdue, I can apply for credit information adjustment. If my bank determines that it meets the conditions, the overdue month will not be deemed as breach of contract; if my loan is not overdue, I can apply for adjusting the overdue date of the loan to be transferred”.
Yan Yuejin, research director of the think tank center of E-House Research Institute, analyzed that there are similar suspension policies or operations, which objectively helps to reduce the loan repayment pressure of home buyers. However, buyers will worry about the existence of stains on the credit investigation. Even if the bank allows the suspension, it is also afraid that the suspension will have a bad impact. In this regard, the bank should clearly inform and provide explicit information services to buyers.
relevant supporting rules and measures to be issued
Due to the epidemic, it is impossible to repay the mortgage on time. Relaxing the repayment period is a good measure for banks to serve the people’s livelihood. However, during the investigation, the reporter of Beijing business daily noted that in recent years, the “rights protection team” through “paying money and handling affairs” is showing an increasing trend. Under the guise of formal rights protection, it is putting pressure on financial institutions through “online complaints, telephone complaints, letters and visits”, Achieve the purpose of “malicious complaint”.
A person in charge of relevant departments of a local urban commercial bank told the Beijing Business Daily that at present, the bank is more cautious about the introduction of the deferred repayment policy during the epidemic. There have been some cases of malicious complaints before. Some people who are not within the scope of specific groups complain to the supervision under the banner of the epidemic, which has caused great losses to the reputation of the bank.
Another banker also mentioned that “at present, the identification of specific groups is indeed missing and ambiguous. Some customers think they meet the identification conditions when they have difficulties in life, but in fact they do not meet the relevant standards. The bank is also afraid of causing some misunderstandings. The bank’s solution is that people with special conditions can apply to the bank and the bank will review it as appropriate”.
According to Liang Nan, at present, there is no unified policy in the country, and the form of institutionalization has not been determined, which leads to the unclear treatment attitude and different implementation strength of banks to a certain extent. At the same time, if relevant policies are introduced in the later stage, but due to the certain lag of the policies, the time from the introduction to the landing is long, during which some people with relatively tight economy may have formed overdue repayment. Therefore, the introduction of relevant preferential policies is necessary. Subsequent or relevant policies may be issued to ensure that such groups can tide over the difficulties.
Liang Nan further suggested that banks should implement differentiation standards, fully consider the actual situation of lenders and the repayment rhythm of funds, and carry out appropriate risk management.
From the perspective of buyers, Yan Yuejin suggested that different banks have different caliber. Buyers should take the initiative to consult with bank credit managers and understand more specific regulations, so as to make the operation of such businesses more clear. If the repayment is delayed, you need to know the subsequent mortgage interest rate and other conditions to prevent the risk of increased mortgage costs. At the same time, we should objectively evaluate our future income level and make judgment in advance, which will help to reasonably plan the mortgage repayment in the following months.
