Poles are afraid that “Safe Credit” will end soon. Banks are again flooded with applications

The PKO BP Real Estate Analysis Team analyzed 38,000 applications that were received from July to October this year, i.e. in the first four months of the “First Apartment” program, the flagship element of which is a loan with a government subsidy.

Safe loan 2 percent – thirty-year-olds with high incomes

On this basis, you can build a “profile” of a typical borrower. The average age of a person who meets the conditions of the program is just over 30. The beneficiaries of the government program are therefore younger than typical borrowers, whose age is on average 38 years. This difference can be explained by the fact that in “BK” it is 2%. there is an age limit and a ban on owning another house or apartment, which automatically narrows the group of recipients. As much as 45 percent people who applied for BK2%. are young people, between 25 and 29 years old.

There were three times as many singles among the applicants than for other housing loans. In the largest agglomerations, applications from singles accounted for 74%. all applications.

The analysis also shows that singles mainly bought apartments on the primary market. The median area of ​​an apartment purchased by singles on the primary market in Warsaw is 44 sq m, while in housing loans without subsidies it is 52 sq m. In Gdańsk it is 48 and 55 sq m, respectively. In Krakow 48 to 52 sq m. In Poznań 50 to 51, in Wrocław 51 to 53, and in Łódź 54 to 62 sq m.

The beneficiaries belong to the higher-earning group: in as many as two-thirds of the applications, the reported monthly net income per person was between PLN 4,000 and PLN 8,000. zloty.

What next with the “Safe Credit” program?

The government project met with great interest from the target group. From July to mid-November, almost 70,000 were submitted. applications, and during this time banks granted 40.8 thousand loans with subsidy.

Paradoxically, the popularity of the program may determine its failure.

A few days ago, at a press conference, Agnieszka Wachnicka, vice-president of the Polish Bank Association (ZBP), announced that the current budget utilization amounts to PLN 745 million, while the entire budget is PLN 941 million.

– The average amount of the subsidy – calculated on the basis of already submitted applications – reaches over PLN 18,000, which is the amount of the subsidy from the budget. The program budget may be exhausted, as there are no limits this year, so the decision to stop granting loans under the program may be made at the beginning of next year, said the vice-president of the Polish Bank Association.

The source may therefore be exhausted.

Banks are slow to complete loan applications. How to protect yourself?

Karol Zimnoch, a credit expert from Białystok, admitted in an interview with “Wprost” that the closer to the end of the year, the greater the interest in obtaining subsidies. This is interesting because in the fall the number of applications submitted began to decline (the largest number of applications were submitted in July and August). However, information about the possible end of the program electrified people who had been postponing this decision until now.

He recommends that those planning to submit an application act as soon as possible – but also diligently prepare all the attachments required by the bank.

– Banks are warning us experts that only complete applications with no errors will be registered in the BGK database. Therefore, you should not wait to submit the documents, because if the bank does not manage to register the application (and they have five days to do so from acceptance), it may turn out that the applicant will no longer receive a subsidized loan – says Zimnoch.

The regulations are structured in such a way that banks will stop accepting applications the day after BGK announces that 75% of the funds have been exhausted in the BIP. funds available in the program. BGK may announce this on January 2 at the earliest. Therefore, all applications accepted by banks by December 31 and registered within 5 days will receive 100%. surcharge. However, if it turns out that BGK announces the exhaustion of funds a little later, it will be possible to accept funds longer.

The deposit is forfeited if the customer fails to comply with the terms of the contract

He adds that in this situation, it is in the clients’ interest to negotiate reservation or preliminary agreements as long as possible with developers or sellers of real estate on the secondary market. Although banks have a statutory obligation to issue a decision on granting a loan (or refusing it) within 21 days of submitting a correctly completed application with all attachments, in practice, many institutions take up to 2 months.

– I would also not rely on the current deadlines for considering applications. The fact that the bank could process an application submitted at the end of November within 20 days does not mean that an application submitted in the second week of December will also be considered so quickly, says our interlocutor.

The deposit is forfeited if the contract is not concluded due to the buyer’s fault

It is in the buyers interest to negotiate a good deal. Why? In the agreement, the parties provide for a deadline for signing the sales or development agreement. If the customer does not receive a credit decision in time, the contract ceases to be valid and the seller – as compensation – retains the deposit. Due to the bank’s delay, the customer may lose several thousand zlotys.

– I recommend to my clients to negotiate a reservation or preliminary contract of up to three months. If the seller does not agree to this, it is worth persuading the seller to agree to secure the contract with a partially refundable deposit in the event of failure to receive a loan in the appropriate amount, or partially with a deposit and partially with an advance payment – this is 100% refundable in the event that the agreement cannot be concluded. – suggests the advisor.