Households in financial difficulties as a result of record-high energy bills will be allowed to postpone mortgage debt repayments, instead only paying the interest on their mortgage, Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported on 7 September.
Following a meeting of major Belgian banks on 6 September, lenders agreed on the temporary measures to ease the energy burden for families struggling to make mortgage payments. Belgians will soon be able to postpone the repayment of capital and only pay the interest. In exchange, the creditor will lengthen the terms of the loan.
While the banks have agreed on the need to support Belgian lenders, they were quick to highlight that the level of support could not be the same as issued during the Covid-19 pandemic. In April 2020, the government allowed customers to entirely freeze their mortgage repayments for a period of six months, often without needing to pay interest.
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Banks are unsure just how long the current energy crisis will last, but fear that high prices and energy bills may remain a problem for Belgian households for the next two to three years.
Nevertheless, Belgian banks will soon work on intermediate assessments of the energy crisis, providing debt relief measures to borrow for at least the winter period.
De Standaard provides an example of how borrowers may benefit: a Belgian with 21 years of mortgage repayments left of a total term of 25 years will see their loan period increase to 21 years and 4 months after requesting a payment break of four months.
If the person in question borrowed €200,000 from the bank at a fixed interest rate of 1.5%, they would still be obliged to repay €216 in interest per month. The capital repayment of €583.85, however, would be suspended.
