The legally prescribed deferrals of loan repayments and repayments – parts of the Corona aid packages – have not been extended again. This extra-tour legal moratorium has provided for private households and small companies in Austria to postpone repayments by three months since April 2020, but this has been extended several times. This statutory deferral period expired at the end of January.
In Germany, that was the case last June, after only three months. Politicians and regulators saw this measure only as a temporary umbrella.
Anyone who has made use of this statutory right to deferment due to corona-related financial bottlenecks must resume installment and interest payments in Austria from February. As assured by the banking industry, the deferred sums of the last ten months do not have to be repaid in one fell swoop. The repayment-free months are attached to the agreed term of the loan agreement. Right from the start, it was planned that the deferral would extend the term of the loan agreement accordingly.
According to information from banks, deferrals of repayment within the framework of the legal moratorium have hardly played a role in recent weeks. Deferrals through bilateral and individual agreements between borrowers and banks played a bigger role even in the legal moratorium phase. Debt counseling also advise borrowers in financial distress to bilateral deferral agreements with their banks.
AK calls for extension
Nobody has to be afraid, says the banking industry. If it doesn't work out, you can switch from the statutory to a new “private” moratorium. The new head of Erste Bank, Gerda Holzinger-Burgstaller, said in “Zeit im Bild” that they would try to find individual solutions. But there are also “legal frameworks that make further indebtedness impossible”.
The Chamber of Labor recently demanded an extension of the expired deferrals until the end of June. In addition to the extension of the deferrals, a rapid, comprehensive protection package is required. The “protective shield” for bank customers should already apply during the moratorium, “said AK consumer advocate Gabriele Zgubic.
Most recently, just over six billion euros were deferred in the statutory moratorium, while it was 7.4 billion euros through private agreements. At peak times in May / June 2020 it was more than 20 billion euros legally and 30 billion euros privately.
