‘Knife’ in 12 counts government demanded of banks – Newsbomb – News

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras met with bank representatives on Thursday (1/12). to her The main topic of discussion was support for borrowersBecause of the continuous rise in interest rates, which led to higher premiums. Among other things, the government asked the banks To re-evaluate 12 of the commissions that they receive.

The relevant list includes the following 12 committees:

1. Supplying incoming remittances.
2. Outbound transfer fees (fees for transferring funds from one bank account to another local bank account).
3. Commission for sending money (transfers) to banks outside the Eurozone.
4. Fee for withdrawing cash from another bank’s ATM.
5. credit card subscription.
6. Debit/credit card re-issuance fees due to expiration and due to theft, loss or damage.
7. Provide bill payment (DEKO, mobile phone, etc.).
8. Issuing copies of account/loan/credit card statements.
9. Loan application evaluation fees.
10. Costs of legal and technical review of loan applications.
11. Overseas credit card transaction fees (fee for converting foreign transactions into euros).
12. Commission for buying Greek government bonds.

Which borrowers will be supported by the government – banks

From what appeared Banks’ willingness to promote measures that will not reduce the net present value of debt they have in their portfolio, otherwise they would be instructed to reclassify Informed Mortgage Loans and take increased provisions, in order to cover the resulting loss.

Under the proposal, which will be detailed in the coming days, banks will subsidize 50% of the premium increase due to higher interest rates for a period of 12 months. Thus, if a person’s premium is 400 euros, and after an interest rate increase by the European Central Bank it reaches 500 euros, the bank will reduce it to 450 euros. However, the number of borrowers who would be subject to this measure is relatively small and banks estimate 20,000 to 30,000 households that meet the income and asset criteria to be classified as vulnerable.

According to the banks, the measures that will be decided upon should concern vulnerable families, not necessarily according to the strict criteria set by the law, but those families that are “sensitive” to the rise in interest rates. Based on bank data, the rise in interest rates increases, on average, the monthly installment of a mortgage, which is currently at a variable interest rate, by about 20%, but this increase does not affect all categories of borrowers horizontally.

One category in which a problem can be identified, according to banks, is, for example, loans that are included in the “Bridge 1” first home protection program, and which have expired or will expire at the end of the year of the subsidy term. Not only will these borrowers have to pay the normal amount of their mortgage payments, that is, without the subsidy, but that premium will be higher than they were paying at the start of the pandemic because of the higher interest rates.