Bank customers who adhered to the public moratorium on bank credits, but who do not want it to be automatically extended until March 31, 2021, have until this Sunday to notify their bank.
For this, they can use the various communication channels made available by banking institutions, according to Lusa informed by Banco de Portugal.
Bank moratoriums, which suspend payment of bank loan installments (principal and / or interest), were extended by the Government until March 31, 2021.
Customers who have signed up to the moratorium are automatically covered, except when they inform the bank that they do not want to, and must do so by 20 September.
Since April, thousands of customers have not been paying loans to banks, making use of the Government decree-law that allows for loan default, created as an aid to families and companies penalized by the economic crisis triggered by the covid-19 pandemic.
In June, the Government decided to extend the deadline for September's moratoriums this year to March 31, 2021 (customers who wish can still request access to moratoriums until the end of September) and also extended the conditions under which customers can access, having relaxed the conditions related to the contributory and tax condition.
The public regime also started to cover all mortgage loans (such as housing loans), credit for consumption for education purposes, as well as allowing people with a drop in household income of at least 20% and citizens to access who have no residence in Portugal (including emigrants), situations that were not previously covered.
In addition to the credit default under the Government law, there are also private credit default, of the Portuguese Banking Association (APB), the Association of Specialized Credit Institutions (ASFAC) and the Portuguese Leasing, Factoring and Renting Association (ALF) , which apply to credits that do not benefit from the public moratorium (in the case of personal credit, with the exception of contracts with an educational purpose - already covered by the public moratorium -, car loans and credit cards).
According to the latest data released by the Bank of Portugal, until June 30, requests for credit default exceeded 841 thousand and more than 714 thousand contracts were already covered by the postponement measures. Of the loans to which arrears were applied, 44% were mortgage loans and other mortgage loans.
At the beginning of September, the Minister of Finance, João Leão, considered the extension of the credit default on companies and families (beyond March 31, 2021) a “very relevant” issue, which the Government is studying, and said he wanted to have news until the presentation of the State Budget.
The PSD has already signaled that it intends to see the deadline extended until September 2021 (albeit only for outstanding capital and not interest and commissions) for families and individuals and for the economic sectors most affected by the economic crisis.
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