In the Corona crisis, there is a risk of losing one's job or short-time work. The payment of interest and the repayment of consumer loans can then become tight.
Frankfurt / Main (dpa) - Current loans can become a heavy burden for consumers in the corona crisis. The money houses should therefore customers who are in need because of the crisis, from April 1, to pay interest, repayment or repayment of consumer loans for three months.
"Banks and savings banks are prepared for this," said a spokesman for the German banking industry (DK). Interest seems to be high, as can be seen from the Sparkassen's first data. Consumer advocates welcomed the legal regulation, but cautioned.
"It is an acute measure, the debt is not wiped away with it. First, consumers should check state transfer payments, such as rent subsidies," said Dorothea Mohn from the Federal Consumer Association (vzbv). The deferral applies from April 1 to the end of June for consumer loans that were concluded before March 15. "Probably three months are too short. We hope that readjustments may be necessary," said Mohn.
She is critical of the possibility of voluntarily agreeing other regulations with credit institutions. "There is a risk that consumers will be worse off. That must not happen," said the head of the vzbv financial market team. At the same time, she warned that consumers in need should quickly contact their bank or savings bank if they have problems with interest rates and loan repayments and "under no circumstances should they sit out". However, the regulation only applies to people who have encountered difficulties due to the crisis: "If in doubt, those affected must also prove this."
The German banking industry had also had difficulties for private customers to get in touch with their bank as soon as possible.
According to the Federal Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the loan agreement will be extended by the deferral period, unless the bank and consumer agree on another solution. A termination of the contract, among other things due to late payment or deterioration of the economic situation of the consumer, is excluded during the deferral.
For some days now, some institutions have offered their customers to suspend the repayment of loans. The President of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV), Helmut Schleweis, had told the "Handelsblatt" that this had been the case for installment loans as well as real estate financing since March 26. The prerequisite is that due to the spread of the corona virus, revenue has failed and customers cannot pay otherwise. "We trust our customers that they will not use this instrument inappropriately." By Monday morning, 124,000 people would have used this option.
Commerzbank currently grants private customers who are affected by short-time work a three-month payment break for installment loans. In the case of construction finance, a simplified suspension of repayment is possible for up to six months.
The information company Crifbürgel had recently warned of an increase in private bankruptcies as a result of the crisis in Germany. Not only unemployment, but also the sharp rise in short-time work will increase the number of personal bankruptcies, said managing director Christian Bock. "People in Germany will have less money in their pockets to meet their obligations such as loan payments, rents or financing. In the long run, less income leads first to overindebtedness and then to personal bankruptcy," he said.
German banking industry to defer consumer loans
Schleweis in the Handelsblatt
