BRATISLAVA, February 10, (WEBNOVINY) – Along with the growing tendency to consolidate multiple loans into one, also the interest in refinancing housing loans is on the rise. Last year, ten percent of all newly extended loans in the volume of over EUR 200 million were refinanced, according to Michaela Kanova, head of the Department of Retail Loans at the largest Slovak bank Slovenska Sporitelna. According to her, loan refinancing will continue to be on the agenda also in the upcoming years. In the more developed EU countries, the portion of refinanced loans is bigger than in Slovakia, where it is just at the beginning.
The main reasons for refinancing loans is to get a lower interest rate, as well as better conditions for the period of repaying the loan, and lower monthly payments as well. Kanova specified that clients refinance their loans usually at the end of the fixation period, when an early repayment of the entire loan is free- of-charge in most banks. If a bank can not offer improvement of the loan terms by changing the contract for instance, the client will look for a solution with another bank, added VUB Banka. The most frequently sought solution is to apply for a new loan in a new bank to repay the original one.
Refinanced housing loans, meaning loans used to repay mortgages drawn in different banks, made up one-tenth of the volume of newly extended housing loans in Slovenska Sporitelna last year. VUB reported the highest interest in refinancing at the end of last year, during intensive media campaign of banks providing mortgages. VUB Banka’s spokeswoman Alena Walterova said the bank expects the demand for refinancing loans to grow, while it will depend on the development of interest rates, as clients mostly refinance their loans in order to get a lower interest rate.
UniCredit Bank provided twenty percent of the overall volume of mortgages for the second half of last year to refinance loans extended by different banks. The growing tendency continues, commented UniCredit’s spokeswoman Zuzana Dudakova.
On the other hand, Tatra Banka’s clients have shown minimum interest in refinancing loans, said its spokesman Boris Gandel. The bank does not expect its clients will demand the service much in the future, either.
SITA
