Suspension of interest collection until December 31, 2024

The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) said it will temporarily stop collecting interest from borrowers affected by storm No. 3 and post-storm floods until December 31.

Mr. Huynh Van Thuan, Deputy General Director of the Social Policy Bank, said that based on the level of damage to capital, assets and people of the borrower, the Social Policy Bank where the loan is made urgently completes the process of establishing a dossier to request the handling of risky debt according to current regulations to submit to competent authorities for timely decision on handling risky debt, in order to create conditions for the borrowers who have suffered damage to overcome the consequences of natural disasters, stabilize their lives, and quickly restore production and business.

The Social Policy Bank also extends debt and adjusts the debt term for loans due for repayment (applied to loans with debt due from September 2024). The maximum normal term is 12 months for short-term loans and a maximum of 1/2 of the loan term for medium and long-term loans.

“Based on the synthesis of local borrowing needs, the Social Policy Bank will develop a plan to supplement the credit growth target for 2024, balance the implementation capital sources to report to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance , and submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision in October 2024. It is expected to submit an additional amount of about 4,900 billion VND,” said Mr. Thuan.

Many policies are proactively introduced.

At the State Bank's conference on implementing banking credit solutions to support businesses and people affected by storm No. 3 on September 20, Ms. Ngo Thu Ha, General Director ofSHB Bank, said that the bank is implementing a support program to reduce an average of 50% of interest rates that existing customers must pay from September 1 to December 31.

Especially for customers who have suffered heavy losses and have difficulty in restoring production, depending on the level, SHB can waive 100% of the interest payable during the above period. The estimated amount of interest exempted for customers is more than 30 billion VND.

At the same time, SHB provided a credit package of 2,000 billion VND with interest rate support of only 4.5% for new loans, until December 31, providing capital to help customers rebuild and restore production and business. The maximum support period is 6 months.

SHB continues to review affected customers to offer appropriate support packages for each production and business sector. The bank also restructures debt repayment terms and maintains the debt group based on customer requests and SHB's assessment of the customer's repayment capacity...

VietinBank said it would reduce lending interest rates with an expected outstanding balance of up to VND100,000 billion, to support capital sources for customers to soon stabilize their lives and production and business activities.

Specifically, all businesses and individuals affected by Typhoon Yagi are supported with interest rate reductions of up to 2%/year depending on the purpose and loan term. This support policy applies to both existing and new loans until December 31. The support package is worth up to VND100,000 billion.

On the side of Agribank, Mr. Pham Toan Vuong, General Director, said that in the areas affected by storm No. 3, Agribank has 75 branches with a total outstanding loan balance for the economy of nearly 640,000 billion VND, of which outstanding loans for agriculture and rural areas in these areas account for nearly 54% (nearly 342,000 billion VND).

According to Mr. Vuong, preliminary statistics up to now show that 60/75 branches in 25 provinces and cities have incurred losses. Of which, nearly 15,000 bank customers with an estimated outstanding loan balance affected by over 30,000 billion VND, the expected outstanding loan loss is nearly 11,000 billion VND.

Regarding the interest rate reduction program to support customers with loans damaged by storm No. 3, for loans with outstanding balances, Agribank will base on the level of damage of customers affected by storm No. 3 and floods to adjust the interest rate down from 0.5-2%/year and waive 100% of overdue interest and late payment interest during the period from September 6 to December 31; reduce 0.5%/year of interest for loans arising from September 6 to December 31.

According to Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Dao Minh Tu, the support programs offered by banks are very positive, with the spirit of "the more damage, the more support" while proactively introducing many new lending policies, proactively reducing interest rates for old loans and making new loans; many small-scale banks also participate very actively...

The Deputy Governor said that the banking sector's guiding viewpoint shows the spirit and responsibility to share the difficulties of people and businesses after the storm and flood. Commercial banks, using their own resources from profits, make efforts to reduce costs to waive loan interest, postpone debt, and restructure repayment terms. Depending on their capacity, banks implement appropriate support programs, provide timely support, support the right subjects, and accompany customers.