Holiday credit. When can it be used?

Holidays can “significantly relieve” people whose premiums are a serious burden on the family budget.

A similar possibility exists in the case of a consumer loan – an application can be submitted to the bank via the form on the website finans.uokik.gov.pl.

– The bank stops the execution of the contract from the moment the request is received. If you have loan-related insurance, the bank will tell you the amount of the premium you will pay – the office explains.

It indicates that the loan period and all the dates stipulated in the loan agreement will be extended by the amount of the suspension period, and the bank will add interest on the capital from the vacation period.

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Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced an aid package for borrowers, one of the elements of which is loan holidays. As Bowie Boris, head of the Polish Development Fund, recently explained in an interview with Interia, the new loan holidays proposed in the package aimed at borrowers are better than those that were during the pandemic.

– At that time, it was possible to suspend the payment of the principal installment, which is usually half of the loan installment, and you had to pay interest. What Prime Minister Moraviki announced means that every borrower with a loan in zlotys may (will be able to – freed) without having to meet additional conditions – this year and next – to suspend four installments, that is, in four months and the banks cannot address without cost. He stressed that these are really free credit holidays.

– The point is that in this unprecedented situation there was plenty of time for borrowers to be able to adapt to the situation of rising interest rates. Credit holidays will reduce the cost of annual loan servicing by a third and will help you deal with loan servicing – explained the head of the PFR.

UOKiK reminds you of the possibility of overpaying the loan.

– Overpayment of the loan – early repayment of all or part of the loan will allow you to reduce the amount of installments or shorten the loan period, due to the reduction of both the amount payable and the interest on it – assures the office.

– It is worth noting that this decision is more favorable for your money than the interest on deposits or deposits obtained at that time. This means that overpaying on a loan can give you advantages over many investments, including bank deposit. For loan agreements concluded after July 22, 2017 at a variable interest rate, the bank may charge fees within three years of incurring them. The amount of this fee and the possibility of its collection are specified in the Mortgage Code – it is emphasized.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has prepared a financial calculator (on the website finans.uokik.gov.pl), which allows you to check the indicative form of the loan installment when the interest rate increases.

The office also reminds the possibility of negotiating the margin. – You can negotiate with the bank its amount, for example, when repaying part of the debt and increasing the price of the property – indicated. Thus, the LTV ratio, i.e. the ratio of debt to the value of the apartment, is falling, and consequently the margin will be less in the present conditions. You can also try to change the loan to a cheaper loan at another bank.