The government announced in the Assembly of the Republic this afternoon that it will continue with a “temporary suspension” of the collection of bank commissions on early loan repayments housing, a measure to come into effect in 2023.
The announcement was made by Secretary of State for Finance, João Nuno Mendes, during a debate at the request of the Left Bloc to discuss proposals to mitigate the effects of rising interest rates on home loans. A debate with 16 proposals on the table – five from the blockers, three from Chega, three from PCP, three from Livre and two from PAN.
According to the head of the Treasury, the temporary suspension of bank fees is intended to avoid barriers to renegotiation of loans or the transfer of credit between banks. Another measure that must be taken by the college concerns the “extension of the repayment period” of housing loans, which can then be reversed “within a certain period” – that is, the customer can go back to the original deadline. An “innovative mechanism”, in the words of the Secretary of State. Measures taken in the context of the income agreement that is being negotiated in the Social Consultation, in the National Budget 2023 proposal that will be submitted to the House of Representatives next Monday, and also in a diploma addressed to the banking sector.
It was the response to the many criticisms that were heard mainly from the left in the government’s Housing Policy Chamber. Mariana Mortágua immediately opened the debate and said: “A process of accelerated impoverishment is underway”in light of what he says is a total passivity of the Executive: “All the government has to say to anyone who sees poverty approaching, even the eviction behind the door, is to wait for the state budget.” “Housing is a drama in our country,” said Mariana Mortágua, speaking of those who “cannot buy a house” and are faced with a “wild rental market”, challenging the PS to approve measures such as stopping bank loans in situations in which the debtor cedes the house to the bank or the non-seizure of the houses for loans other than the mortgage.
Proposals rejected by the State Secretary for Finance, who: rejected proposals that “could jeopardize the legal security of home loan contracts”case of deferral of payment of bank installments (as happened during the covid-19 pandemic): “There is no legal basis at European level for deferral of payment”.
During the debate, João Nuno Mendes defended that “2 to 3% are normal interest rates”. “We have to be serious about telling people that this is the reality for which we have to plan our family budgets. This is the reality. Let’s have no tricks or illusions to solve it,” said the secretary of state. In response, the blockist Mariana Mortágua asked if the answer that the government should give the Portuguese is “better plan your budgets”.
Social Democrat Hugo Carneiro assured that the PSD will come up with proposals for the housing sector and criticized BE for needing a “hurried plenary session to debate innovation ideas”, while IL accused the blockers of “a allinn in the destruction of the real estate market”.
Before Chega, André Ventura went to the pulpit to make a IMI exemption – “the dumbest tax in the world” – to “all residential buildings during the Recovery and Resilience Plan”.
For the PCP, which evoked the times of the Troika with the voice of Parliamentary Leader Paula Santos, the country faces a “very serious situation that requires a response”, a scenario in which the government “does not want to confront the government with the interests of economic groups”. PAN and Livre also defended stronger executive action in light of the rise in mortgage rates.
all the PS claimed to have made progress with “revolutionary measures” on housing, In recent years. But this is a sector in which problems “are not solved overnight”, defended socialist deputy André Pinotes.
In the voting, one proposal by BE and another by Livre on the effort rate for home loans was approved, while the remaining 14 were rejected. The document submitted by the blockers sets a limit to the increase in the effort percentage, stipulating that it must not exceed two percentage points compared to the 2021 average and in any case must not exceed 50%.
The Livre proposal, on the other hand, provides that banks define in the contracts the regime of constant and mixed installments, as well as the renegotiation of credits when the effort rate exceeds the recommendations of the Bank of Portugal.
Source: DN
