The situation around the COVID-19 coronavirus has had a bad effect on the financial situation of many of us. Employees are staying at home on 60% of their salaries and businesses are at a loss at the moment.
If you have a mortgage, this situation can be very stressful. The initiative of the Czech Banking Association, which has called on banks to allow their clients to postpone mortgage payments for up to 3 months in justified cases, should help.
Virtually all domestic banks have responded positively to this situation and functional solutions are already in operation. The procedures for processing such a request vary depending on which bank you are a customer of. The easiest way to ask your bank to postpone your mortgage payments is to call their helpline, where trained staff will help you through the process.
Of course, the whole process can be completed online without the need to visit a branch. However, you will need to demonstrate to the bank that you have a genuine reason for the deferral, which is related to the restrictions due to the coronavirus. Such reasons may include: coronavirus, quarantine, child care, employment abroad, loss of income, loss of employees, loss of supplies, cancelled orders, overdue receivables, etc. In most cases, a simple affidavit will be sufficient to prove this. However, it should be borne in mind that if the bank finds a discrepancy between the client’s affidavit of inability to repay due to the pandemic and the actual situation, this discrepancy will be qualified as an attempted credit fraud.
Another important fact is that the bank will not report the deferred repayments to the credit registers.
Deferment of repayments on standard consumer or business loans works in a similar way. However, it is important to note that the bank will continue to charge interest on the loan during the period of deferred repayments, thus increasing the principal amount of the loan.
Hopefully this whole situation will be resolved soon and we will all return to normal.
