A residential community Photo: VCG

Five of China’s largest banks have rolled out a slew of COVID mortgage relief measures for homebuyers affected by COVID-19 and are concerned about paying their mortgage, Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday. These measures include offering deferment period, extending loan term and adjusting billing plan, the report said.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said that personal loan customers affected by the epidemic will be provided with deferment period during which customers will not be included in the list of defaulting customers.

According to the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), those who are affected by the pandemic and meet relevant conditions can enjoy the home loan customer care policy.

Bank of China (BOC) said it is actively guiding the branches in Shanghai and Northeast China's Jilin Province to help customers in hospitals, under quarantine or those who have lost their income due to COVID-19 with a basket of favorable policies including online repayment, extension of loan term and deferment period.

China Construction Bank (CCB) said it is providing qualified customers with a maximum of 28 days deferred repayment and allowing customers to adjust bill plans according to the epidemic situation in each region.

Bank of Communications (BOCOM) said it would offer a grace period to customers whose repayment capacity is reduced due to COVID-19 with key support to health care workers, government workers, confirmed patients, those under quarantined, and workers in industries heavily affected by the epidemic.

Since Wednesday night, a topic saying "deferring mortgage payments due to the epidemic needs to be put on the agenda" topped the search trend on Chinese Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with many netizens expressing hopes to delay repayment during the epidemic. As of 5 pm on Thursday, the topic has been viewed by more than 23.8 million times.

A staff member from Bank of China (BOC) told the Global Times on Thursday that the bank has already issued policies to defer mortgage payments during the epidemic for homeowners in epidemic-hit regions, including Northeast China's Jilin Province, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as Shanghai and Shenzhen. 

Customers can contact local branches for specific procedures, she said.

An employee from China Construction Bank (CCB) said on Thursday that the branch in Beijing has not released relevant policies, but some branches in areas with severe outbreaks like Shanghai have taken similar moves to address mortgage repayments during the epidemic.

After consulting a staffer from its Shanghai-based branch, the Global Times learned that the loan business in the city can maintain basic operation, and personal loan extension services are available for eligible customers.

Many banks also said that home buyers can apply for credit repair due to late repayments affected by the epidemic.

The staffer from the BOC said that if customers really cannot repay the loan on time due to the epidemic, they can submit supporting documents to the bank handling the loan for credit repair after the arrears are paid off.

The staffer from the Shanghai branch of the CCB told the Global Times that the bank has opened a green channel for epidemic-affected customers to apply for credit repair.

In 2020, the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, together with the Ministry of Finance and three other agencies, issued a notice to further strengthen financial support during the outbreaks, requiring financial institutions to flexibly adjust personal credit repayments and reasonably extend repayment terms.

"The move is aimed at easing the pressure of loan repayments, but there are still difficulties during the implementation," Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Taking Shanghai as an example, local residents are unable to visit branches to deal with such issues, as they are asked to remain at home, so authorities should take more flexible and convenient measures to simplify the procedures like opening online processing channels, Yan added. 

Global Times