Because interest rates have risen sharply, owners of houses and apartments financed by loans in Poland are allowed to suspend installment payments several times. From Friday, consumers were allowed to submit the first applications for so-called credit holidays to their banks.
Under the onslaught, some banks' servers collapsed, while other financial institutions announced longer opening hours at the counter.
According to the law, borrowers can apply for a deferral of up to eight installments. There are two installments each for the third and fourth quarters of 2022. 2023 may not be paid once every quarter. The ruling party PiS has thus fulfilled a promise to Polish families, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, according to the PAP agency. "Maybe we'll be dealing with falling interest rates again in 2024."
An estimated two million families in Poland have financed their houses or apartments with mortgage loans. Interest rates are mostly variable and depend on the prime rate, which has risen. Germany's Commerzbank expected its Polish customers' credit holidays to cost them between EUR 210 million and EUR 290 million by 2023.
