(Finance) – Extend the duration of the loan, renegotiate it by widening the links of the law where possible, verify if it is possible to suspend the installments using the public solidarity fund for those in difficulty. In response to requests from politics and the government, the‘Abi sent a circulate to member banks with the possible measures to accommodate families with variable-rate mortgages without a cap, in order to mitigate the impact of the increase in interest rates on the amount of the installments.
Such measures – explains the Abi – could consist “in extending the amortization plan for loans for the purchase of a first home; in expanding the number of beneficiaries of the renegotiation of mortgage loan contracts, introduced by article 1, paragraph 322, of Law No. 197 of 29 December 2022 (for example, by admitting to the measure also subjects with an ISEE income or with higher mortgages than those envisaged by law); in the further dissemination of knowledge at the its customers the possibility of using the Solidarity Fund for mortgages for the purchase of the first home (so-called Fondo Gasparrini), in order to suspend – upon the occurrence of specific events – the payment of the loan installments”.
“The aforementioned measures – underlines theAbi – will be made upon request and in agreement with those who have chosen to take out a variable-rate mortgage, without new chargesaccording to the operational possibilities of the individual banks and compatibly with the limits imposed by European regulations and the personal data conditions of the beneficiaries”.
The banks and financial intermediaries who intend to join the initiative must communicate it to customers through their own websites and/or by posting specific notices in the branches, and to the ABI which will publish the list of adhering parties on its website. Each bank or financial intermediary adhering to the initiative will be able to offer its customers improved conditions compared to those indicated aboveor take additional steps to address the impacts of rising interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages.
The ABI underlines in the circular that “given the importance of the initiative, a broad and timely adhesion by the banking and financial world is essential”.