More banks included in soft home loan package
More banks included in soft home loan package
The Government included eight more joint stock commercial banks in its VND30 trillion (US$1.395 billion) preferential home loan package as of January 7 this year.
The newly inducted banks are Eximbank, Bao Viet Bank, Sai Gon Commercial Bank, PVcomBank, as well as the Tien Phong Bank, Phuong Dong Bank, VP Bank and the SeA Bank.
Earlier, only five banks, namely Agribank, the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), VietinBank, Vietcombank, as well as the Mekong Housing Bank, in which the State owns more than half of the charter capital, had qualified to take part in the programme.
Under the programme, people belonging to the low-income strata can borrow money to buy apartments worth less than VND1.05 billion ($48,800) at an annual interest rate of 5 per cent and for a period of 15 years.
Besides this, each low-income earner can also borrow VND700 million ($32,558) at the most from the preferential programme to rebuild or upgrade their home. The programme is also available for households and individuals planning to buy budget apartments for lease and re-sale to workers, low-income individuals and students.
Disbursements under the VND30-trillion preferential home loan programme have so far remained slow as only 12 per cent of the sum has been disbursed to homebuyers nationwide.
Meanwhile, participating banks are preparing to boost lending.
The BIDV's branch in the southern province of Binh Duong would provide specific guidelines for homebuyers to borrow, Tran Ngoc Linh, the director of the branch, told the Saigon Times.
BIDV Binh Duong was working with six real-estate firms to sell apartments in the province, Ling said, adding that his branch had lent VND75 billion ($3.488 million) to 300 customers through simplified procedures.
In HCM City, Vietcombank has also offered loans from the package to those buying apartments from the Nam Long Investment Joint Stock Company.
Hoang Son, the deputy head of retail banking at Vietcombank, said the collaboration between banks and investors would help raise disbursements from the VND30-trillion package and simplify lending procedures.
