Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and until January 31, Spanish banks have granted moratoriums on the delay in the payment of credits worth 54,114 million. This amount represents 4.15% of the total loans made by entities, both mortgages and loans without mortgage guarantee, according to data from the Bank of Spain. In total, in the period, the bank received 1.49 million requests for moratoriums and granted 1.378 million, 92.5% of the requests.
Since the crisis began in March, the financial sector and the public sector have mobilized to avoid a cascade of delinquent clients, victims of the cessation of activity in multiple businesses. To facilitate liquidity and new credit, loans with an ICO guarantee were established at up to 80% of the amount, but to avoid facing the debts already contracted, moratoriums were launched, both for mortgages and consumer loans.
The law established the rules by which these moratoriums should be accepted, but financial institutions offered others on their own to their clients, which have been the most successful, since they received 820,000 requests, more than half. The rest are requests for legislative moratoriums, that is, those requested under the legal norm.
20,000 million in mortgages with legal moratorium
At the end of January, the number of requests for a legislative moratorium with a mortgage guarantee exceeded 260,000, of which practically 222,000 had been processed. “The outstanding balance pending amortization of the suspended loans stood at 19,955 million. 72% of those who requested it were salaried and the rest self-employed.
On the other hand, the outstanding balance of the suspended non-mortgage loans was close to 2,700 million euros, after receiving more than 410,000 applications. As of January 31, more than 362,000 of them had been processed, the supervisor’s note indicates. Also here, 73% of the requests were from employed workers.
Regarding the requests for sectoral moratoriums, those offered by the entities to their clients, exceeded 820,000 and 97% were approved. On many occasions, it has been the banks themselves that have called clients to pre-grant them the moratorium to prevent them from becoming defaulters. The outstanding balance of the suspended loans is 31,480 million. In this case, 80% of those affected are salaried.
Less than 30% of applications, self-employed
Regarding the self-employed, the breakdown by activity branch shows that the main sectors benefiting from the moratorium are commerce, hotels and other services, followed at a certain distance by professional, scientific and technical activities, transport and construction, according to official data. Together, these branches of activity account for almost 80% of the total moratoriums for the self-employed that have been granted.
On the other hand, the number of requests and concessions of moratoriums is much lower in two sectors highly affected by the pandemic, the tourism sector and the transport sector. “In particular, the number of requests for a legislative moratorium for mortgage loans for real estate related to a tourist activity stood at 1,582, of which 1,372 had been processed,” says the note, with a balance pending amortization of more than 2,000 million. For its part, requests for a legislative moratorium on transportation amounted to 1,851, and 1,665 having been processed, with a balance pending amortization of 125 million.
At the beginning of February of this year, the application period was extended, as well as the duration of the legal moratoriums, adapting, in general, this pair of characteristics of all moratoriums to the guidelines published by the European Banking Authority. These measures cover vulnerable workers, families and groups, with legal advantages for the latter.
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