Banks race to increase deposit interest rates, borrowers worry

(Dan Tri) - Along with the sharp increase in deposit interest rates, commercial banks are also continuously adjusting their lending interest rates. Borrowers are worried.

“Currently, with a total monthly principal and interest payment of about 2.5 million VND, I can afford it. However, I see that the loan interest rate is constantly increasing, I am worried that when the 1.3 billion VND is disbursed according to the project's progress, the total monthly payment will be very high," Phuong - a 9X who recently took out a loan to buy a house in a project - shared.

Loan interest rates increase, home buyers feel uncertain

Phuong is taking out a home loan from Bank A, which is the project's guarantor. The loan amount is 1.3 billion VND, equivalent to 50% of the property value of the project under construction. According to the contract, the bank will disburse the loan according to the progress, in which the interest rate will be calculated according to the market interest rate at the time of disbursement.

Phuong said that she received the first disbursement on August 15th with an amount of about 10% of the total loan value, at that time the credit specialist reported the interest rate was 7%/year. However, only a week later, the specialist called and informed Phuong that the interest rate would be adjusted to 7.5%/year. At that time, when Phuong did not agree and asked for an explanation, the bank still decided to keep the interest rate at 7%/year.

By last November, when disbursing the second installment with an amount equivalent to 10% of the loan value, the interest rate kept changing. Phuong said: “The first time the specialist reported the interest rate of 8%, then reported it again to 8.3%. Not stopping there, close to the disbursement signing date, the specialist continued to report a new interest rate of 8.5% and then increased it to 8.7%/year.”

Phuong said she felt very worried when interest rates kept rising. "I think the game of borrowing money from banks to buy real estate is very precarious," Phuong said.

Similarly, Viet (33 years old, HCMC) has been borrowing from the bank for nearly 2 years and the preferential interest rate is about to run out. Following the high interest rate situation, he is worried that in April 2026, when the interest rate switches to floating, it will be very high. Contacting the bank where he is borrowing (one of the 4 Big 4 banks), the specialist confirmed that the interest rate is indeed increasing, the current figure the specialist forecasts for him is about 8.8-9%/year.

Mr. Viet estimates that with a loan of 2 billion VND, if the interest rate increases to 9%/year, the monthly cost he will have to bear will be very large, nearly 21 million VND/month (compared to the current payment level of about 15 million VND/month).

In reality, floating interest rates for home loans at banks have increased to 12-15% per year.

Meanwhile, the preferential interest rate for home loans in the first year also increased by 1-2%/year compared to previous months. Specifically,ACB 8%/year; ABBank 9.65%/year; Sacombank 7.49%/year; VIB from 7.8%/year; BVBank 8.49%/year…

Home loan interest rates have increased in the context of recent continuous increases in deposit interest rates. Except for the group of banks with state capital, the group of private banks has continuously adjusted to increase deposit interest rates. Accordingly, the 6-month deposit interest rates of most private banks have exceeded 6%/year. For large deposits, the 6-month deposit interest rate is offered up to 7.1%/year.

The question is whether banks are pushing the pressure onto borrowers?

Why do loan interest rates increase?

Dr. Chau Dinh Linh, a financial expert, said that increasing lending interest rates in the current context is normal. The general principle of calculating lending interest rates is calculated through the main factors including average mobilization interest, operating costs, risk compensation costs and expected profits.

Recently, experts emphasized that with the Government 's call, the banking system has accepted to reduce expected profits, while simultaneously reducing operating costs, thereby reducing loan interest rates to support customers.

Currently, banks still maintain this policy. Although maintaining low output interest rates through preferential loan packages has been "eroding" the profits of most banks (shown through the NIM index - the bank's profit margin has decreased sharply), except for a few large banks with the capacity to attract large CASA (non-term deposits) and mobilize cheap capital from international credit institutions that can compensate and maintain business performance.

Therefore, Mr. Linh emphasized that the increase in lending interest rates was mainly due to the increase in deposit interest rates. The increase in deposit interest rates came from the fact that banks were under pressure on liquidity, so they adjusted their interest rates to attract deposits from the people.

Experts predict that loan interest rates will continue to increase until the end of the year (Illustration: IT).

Expert Nguyen Tri Hieu also agrees that it is normal for commercial banks to increase lending interest rates. According to him, it is true that the goal of the State Bank and the Government is to reduce lending interest rates to support and stimulate production and consumption of the people. However, mobilization interest rates are increasing sharply due to the pressure of the difference between deposit growth and credit growth, so it is necessary to increase output interest rates.

Mr. Hieu said that the current gap between mobilized capital and credit demand is up to 3%. In particular, credit demand is increasing, with credit growth statistics in October reaching 15%. Experts predict that this figure will reach 18-20% by the end of the year, while the State Bank's target at the beginning of the year was only 16%. Therefore, it puts pressure on the liquidity of the banking system.

With input mobilization continuing to increase, experts forecast that output interest rates will continue to increase until the end of the year with an increase of about 1%.

Regarding real estate loans, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), by the end of August 2025, outstanding loans in the real estate sector had exceeded VND4.08 trillion, an increase of nearly 19% compared to the end of 2024, accounting for nearly 1/4 of the total outstanding loans of the entire economy. In recent years, the growth rate of credit in this sector has been consistently higher than the general credit of the economy.

The sharp increase in real estate credit is also understandable, because the market is recovering, so the demand for loans is increasing. The credit policy of the State Bank also wants to create a driving force for the real estate market, helping to improve liquidity and avoid "blood clots" like in 2022, aiming to guide the market to a healthier state.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/ngan-hang-chay-dua-tang-lai-huy-dong-nguoi-vay-lo-lang-20251203172151914.htm