Those who want to do good sometimes get tangled up in the undergrowth of their noble intentions and the well-meaning rules that they have established to achieve their goals. These experiences are currently made by the employees of Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU), who on behalf of their employer are supposed to rescue German medium-sized companies from the corona crisis.
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Once again, the controversial November and December aid is part of the problem. They compensate catering businesses and their suppliers if they lose all or most of their sales due to the shutdown. After all, three quarters of the sales in the same month last year were paid by the state as a replacement payment.
So it’s no wonder that the companies affected are happy to accept the generous help. But this is where new difficulties begin for many. For numerous companies that took out aid loans from the state development bank KfW when the store closed for the first time in the spring, the new aid is anything but straightforward. If the two support measures together exceed the amount of 800,000 euros relevant under state aid law, they are offset against each other.
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The rude awakening when going to the bank
True to the catchy motto “A gift is better than something borrowed”, the companies concerned try to redeem their loans early, for which they have to pay interest and repayments. The new winter aid grants seem more attractive to them because they do not have to be repaid.
At first this seemed to be possible without any problems. On the website specially set up for the companies concerned www.ueberbrueckungshilfe-unternehmen.de the federal government declared that KfW loans may be repaid free of charge before their term expires. At least that is what entrepreneurs assure themselves who found out about the new aids on the website.
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The commitment is important because it can be expensive for bank customers to repay a loan early. Funders usually charge a price for this, the so-called early repayment penalty. It can add up to a considerable proportion of the loan volume. Companies in need that depend on every euro can often not afford the operation.
Many were all the more relieved that the federal government was obviously aware of the problem and wanted to forego prepayment penalties for the loans of its state bank KfW. Among those who were happy was Ulfert Zöllner, Managing Director of the Service-Bund, an association of around 30 medium-sized companies, mainly in northern Germany, which supply hotels, canteens, hospitals and old people’s homes with food. During his research into the new aid, customs officers also came across the passage with the free repayment of KfW loans.
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The rude awakening came while walking to the bank. Despite everything, some member companies demanded early repayment penalties. The reason: Probably not all KfW loan programs that were launched as part of the Corona aid were free of charge. The federal government had probably noticed this in the meantime. The corresponding note on the page disappeared.
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Zöllner turned to the Federal Ministry of Economics for help and described the “tangible problem” in an email. The answer from the Berlin officials was evasive. The illustrated conflict with the house banks should not actually show itself, they wrote back. Whether customs officers could provide examples. He was able to. Three companies from his group of companies wanted to repay loans of EUR 800,000 each. For two, the banks demanded a prepayment penalty of 60,000 euros, and for the third even 100,000 euros.
The ministries reject any responsibility
When asked why the reference to the free of charge disappeared, the Altmaier Ministry got a slim footing. The officials pointed out that it was a website of the Federal Ministry of Finance, on whose content they could not comment.
But the people of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) apparently also want nothing to do with the matter. When asked by SPIEGEL, they said: “Thank you for your request, for which I would like to refer you to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, which is in charge of the KfW Special Program 2020 and the aforementioned website.”
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, in turn, announced that KfW did not require any early repayment penalty. Whether and to what extent the house banks through which the KfW programs are processed demand such compensation is part of the contractual relationship between the banks and the borrowers. Such relationships are beyond “direct intervention by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.”
Ulfert Zöllner is angry about the inconclusive back and forth. “The federal government had the whole summer to prepare the program, now it is making such a quick shot.” Customs officers and their member companies still have no certainty as to how to deal with the prepayment penalty. You pay them so that you can benefit from the cheap November aid, but only with reservations.
The manager’s verdict on the actors in Berlin has been made. “They don’t know what they’re doing.”
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