House installment fix: Bank can analyze your financial capability.

Fixing and lowering your home loan? You can do it in several ways. Contact Poupança no Minuto to speak with a credit intermediary and learn more. Or first understand how to join the Government measure in question.

To secure the home installment with the new measure, the bank may request additional information.

Since November 2nd, and until the end of the first quarter of 2024, you can join the measure provided by the Government that allows you to fix and reduce the home installment for two years. However, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) warns: Your bank may analyze your financial capacity before presenting you the plan.

For this purpose, banks may request some additional data, "allowing them to assess your financial situation, namely in terms of income (for example, income tax return, pay slip, etc.), financial assets, and family expenses," as explained by the BdP, quoted in a Notícias ao Minuto article.  

Remember that, to make the request to your bank, you need to go in person to the institution, "or through the channels that it makes available for this purpose".  

After placing the order, the bank has 15 days to respond, presenting "in durable support the repayment plans according to the terms contractually established and according to this measure, and also, for the deferred amount". From there, the customer has " 30 days from receipt of the information to inform whether they accept the application of this measure", clarifies the BdP.

Note then that, "during this period, the institution may request additional information necessary to comply with other legal requirements," can be read in the news.

Keep the installment? Is there another option.

If your goal in joining the Government's measure is to fix the value of the house installment in order to have more security and stability, know that there is another option that may be more beneficial. This is because the measure in question requires you to return, after four years, the amount you will not pay over the 24 months, spread over the remaining term of the credit contract.

As long as you opt for a renegotiation of credit terms or transfer to another bank, you can access a fixed interest rate regime, with currently lower values than the Euribor rates in the variable interest rate regime.

There are now promotional campaigns from banks with mixed rates, where the rate is fixed, for example, over two years, and then returns to the variable rate (when Euribor values are expected to fall again), starting at 3%, facing the 4% Euribor rates at various maturities.  

These campaigns are often not available for existing credits that want to renegotiate their conditions, which can cause dissatisfaction with the current institution. It is in these cases that people should seek to know the offers from other banks, for viable alternatives to which they can resort with the credit transfer (at no cost) and reorganization of this and other credits to improve their monthly financial capacity.

So, by accessing one of these options, you ensure: savings, stability, and without having to reimburse the saved amount later.  

If you want to access one of these options, contact a credit intermediary, such as those from Poupança no Minuto, to analyze your specific case. Contact us and have access to a free intermediation service!