Bankinter offers a payment holiday on consumer loans, expanding on the moratorium in the emergency Royal Decree
The bank will offer financially vulnerable customers a payment holiday of up to four months on the principal of their consumer loans.
Bankinter is moving forward with new measures to help soften the blow of the coronavirus. It has created a new payment holiday specifically for consumer loans to help financially vulnerable customers who cannot qualify for the moratorium enacted by Royal Decree-Law 11/2020 of 31 March.
For personal loans, Bankinter is offering a payment holiday on the loan principal. In other words, customers can forgo payment of their principal (but not interest) for four months, instead of the three-month period dictated in the Royal Decree. For credit cards, however, the payment holiday will cover both principal and interest (as per the decree) and will last for three months. Bankinter will consider extending payment holidays if the circumstances persist.
The bank may proactively offer this type of payment holidays to customers who can demonstrate financial hardship. Eligible customers may be able to defer payments on debts of up to 150,000 euros.
They can also get information about applying by visiting the appropriate section on the bank’s website with their access codes. Furthermore, once the bank has approved their application and receives their documents, they can make use of a special digital signature mechanism to expedite processing.
Bankinter will continue to comply with the moratorium enacted by the Royal Decree of 31 March on consumer credit and credit cards for at-risk groups and offer the related payment holiday.
Since the start of the current situation caused by the pandemic, Bankinter has approved measures that expand on the provisions of emergency Royal Decrees against COVID-19. In addition to the payment holiday on mortgage payments as these laws, the bank announced on 25 March that it would create a four-month payment holiday on mortgage principals for customers who do not satisfy requirements set out in the Royal Decree of 17 March. This payment holiday may also be extended to up to 12 months if necessary.
Bankinter’s approved shock plan to help mitigate the financial effects of coronavirus also includes measures for households, like advance payment of pensions, unemployment benefits or aid for furloughed workers affected to a temporary redundancy scheme (ERTE).
They also include special measures for SMEs and sole traders, as well as loans secured by the Spanish State through ICO lines, special grace periods and flexible financing terms and conditions.