Wüstenrot Housing Savings Bank is the first of our housing savings banks to announce that it will introduce a moratorium on loan repayment for clients who lose their jobs.
Announcing a moratorium that they say will last for six months, Wüstenrot emphasizes that they will provide a detailed explanation at the beginning of next week regarding what prompted such a decision, which was made after unions called on banks to contribute to the fight against the financial crisis and postpone loan repayments. As we learn, there is currently no announcement that other financial institutions will follow Wüstenrot’s example, which is already known for its high share of granted inter-financing loans and low interest rates. Namely, this savings bank has approved as many as 7,050 such loans worth around 880 million kuna in the past three years since inter-financing loans were introduced. These loans, let us remind you, can be obtained quickly, in larger amounts, and at an exceptionally favorable (fixed) interest rate, which can be as low as 2.5 percent and for a longer repayment period (up to 24 years). They have become much more sought after than regular loans, Wüstenrot explains, which today covers more than a third of the total Croatian market for inter-financing loans. Responsible people from Wüstenrot also announce that they may soon publicly commit to not raising interest rates on their housing loans in 2009. (Nikola Prskalo)
