Text丨Zongwei
This recent round of epidemic has spread to many regions across the country, and there is no sign of improvement in the short term.
Many people are affected by the epidemic and cannot work and have no income. In addition to the expenses of the family, they also have to bear thousands or even tens of thousands of mortgages every month, which is under great economic pressure.
What should I do if I can’t repay the loan on time? Will it affect the credit record? Is there anything worth learning from for delaying loan repayment measures during the epidemic abroad?
1
Let’s take a look at a screenshot recently circulated on the Internet -
There are citizens living in Kunshan, Suzhou and working in Shanghai who reported that they were unable to work due to the impact of the epidemic and had no income, but they still had to pay a mortgage of about 5,000 yuan a month. hopes that bank can temporarily postpone the repayment of the loan, or reduce the mortgage loan for half a month.
Bank quickly responded that there are currently no relevant regulations on reducing mortgage loans during the epidemic. It is also said that the closure of the community is a "short-term special situation" and "will not have a long-term impact on you."
Bank finally moved out the "Bank's regulations", saying that "one day delay in repaying mortgage repayment will affect the credit record. A three-month delay will initiate litigation procedures. Please be sure to repay the mortgage on time." This screenshot of
shows the sadness of many "house slaves".
Of course, we are not going to accuse the bank of cold-bloodedness. After all, banks are not charities. If everyone asks to repay late or low, or even say they don’t pay the mortgage, banks will have the only way to go bankrupt.
But in special circumstances of the epidemic, can I appropriately postpone the repayment of the loan?
In a similar case in Baiyin, a local bank credit department staff said that if there is indeed no income due to the epidemic lockdown and cannot repay on time, the repayment can be postponed, but you must submit a written application certificate to the bank and go through the delayed repayment procedures, which can be delayed for up to 6 months.
Why does this bank allow delayed repayment of loans? Are there relatively unified regulations in the country?
In fact, as early as January 2020, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice requiring that people who temporarily lose their source of income due to the epidemic should be appropriately tilted in credit policies, flexibly adjust personal credit repayment arrangements such as housing mortgages and credit cards, and reasonably postpone the repayment period.
Central Bank , the Ministry of Finance and other five ministries and commissions later jointly issued a notice, mentioning that if the loan is not repayed in a timely manner due to the impact of the epidemic, the access agency will determine that the relevant overdue loans may not be submitted for overdue records, and those that have been submitted will be adjusted.
But both notifications are just guiding files and there are no more detailed rules.
According to recent media reports, after calling customer service numbers from multiple banks, each bank gave a different reply.
Some banks said that due to the impact of the epidemic, some regions can apply for delayed repayment of loans, but Shanghai, Changchun and other places with the most severe epidemic are currently out of the list due to the lag of policies.
Some banks replied that they can delay repayment of loans due to the impact of the epidemic, but it depends on the specific situation. Some other banks said that they "had not received the notice", but they could consult local outlets, and they might be allowed to apply for it.
So whether you can delay repayment of your loan depends on the bank's "face". If the bank says it is OK, it is OK, but if the bank says it is not OK.
2
In fact, after the outbreak of the epidemic, many countries have introduced relevant measures to allow appropriate delays in repayment of loans.
In March 2020, the United States launched a series of epidemic relief bills, including the "mortgage loan extension payment plan", and lenders can apply for a 6-month extension to repay the loan. After Biden came to power, the "mortgage loan extension payment plan" was extended twice, and applicants can delay repayment for up to 18 months.
What kind of person can apply for?
mortgage loans are held or guaranteed by the U.S. federal government, including Freddie Mac, Fanlimei , as well as Federal Housing Administration , Department of Veterans Affairs and US Department of Agriculture.
Someone may have heard of Factory Mac and Fannie Mai, but the "two houses" are not actually banks. They buy personal mortgages from banks and then package them into financial products for sale.
subprime mortgage crisis in 2008 was the disorderly expansion of the two companies, which eventually led to the real estate bubble. Both houses were later taken over by the US government and are now supervised by the Federal Housing and Finance Bureau, equivalent to a super central enterprise.
It can be understood as this: "two houses" mainly serve ordinary American families, and the three departments (bureaus) mainly serve government public officials and soldiers.
If the mortgage is purely a private bank, whether the loan can be repaid is delayed, it is the same as us, mainly depending on the policies of each bank.
Is it difficult to apply for a postponement of loan repayment?
Applicants just fill in the relevant instructions on the official website of the loan service company. Most of the time, there is no need to prove financial difficulties in writing, but some people with poor credit reporting may receive calls from loan service companies asking for verbal explanations.
Are there many people applying for postponed repayment of loans?
According to statistics, more than 7 million people across the United States have applied for mortgage loan extensions, and according to data from mortgage loan data company Black Knight, as of late May 2021, 2.2 million U.S. homeowners are still in the extension plan, accounting for 4.1% of all mortgage loans.
In the UK, relevant policies were introduced in the early stages of the epidemic, allowing loan repayment to be delayed by 3 months, and later extended to 6 months.
In Japan, more than 50,000 people were approved to postpone the repayment of loans, which is five times that of the "3.11" Japan earthquake. Most applicants are allowed to repay only interest per month within about half a year to a year, and the principal will be repaid after the deadline.
In December 2020, the National Banking Association of Japan took the lead and gave some loan exemptions to families in real difficulty, but the review process was very strict, and only hundreds of people's applications were approved.
The association also stipulates that even if the loan is still unable to repay, resulting in the house being forced to be auctioned, it will not affect personal credit.
3
We introduce foreign loan repayment measures, not to say that they are all good. On the contrary, policies such as the "mortgage loan deferred payment plan" in the United States have caused a lot of controversy after it was launched.
For example, the application threshold is too low.
The mortgage interest rate in the United States is generally around 3%. Many people take advantage of the loopholes of delaying repayment of loans and have to buy a house even if they borrow money, which indirectly drives the rise in US housing prices.
According to statistics from the Federal Housing and Finance Bureau, the average housing price in the United States in 2021 rose by nearly 20% compared with 2020.
In addition, the original intention of this plan is to help families with poor people, but the income is more from high-income families.
New York Federal Reserve Bank found that among high-income households with annual income of more than $60,000, about 5.8% said they received loan repayment deferreds, while only 2% of households with annual income of less than $60,000.
Moreover, postponing repayment does not mean that you don’t have to pay back the money, it is equivalent to a re-sentence for probation, and the money you should pay back cannot be reduced. Those who are still unable to repay their loans after maturity are time bombs that may detonate the US real estate market at any time.
For China, it is obviously not realistic to follow the United States to make a similar plan.
First of all, there is no institution like the "two houses" in the United States that can cover most family mortgage loans in the United States.
The mortgage loans of Chinese people are scattered among banks of all sizes. Each bank, or branches in different regions of the same bank, has a different ability to bear risks.
We cannot require all banks to be consistent in their pace, unify rules at the national level, and introduce a similar mortgage extension plan. It is a more realistic operation to hand over the decision-making power to local bank branches.
Behind every mortgagee who can’t afford to pay back the mortgagee is a family in trouble.
In December last year, in Pinghu, Zhejiang, the mortgage loan was overdue for several months due to the short-term unemployment of the husband and the wife having children. The bank decided to violate the rules and applied for forced sales of the house. The court finally rejected the bank's request and stopped the bank's mechanical operations.
Bank can say with confidence that we are doing things according to regulations. However, it is not difficult to see from the cases of Kunshan, Jiangsu and Baiyin in Gansu that banks actually have a greater discretion in . When considering each person’s specific situation, they can be more flexible and more humane.
