2023-12-15 18:46:18
The Green Party’s proposal to offer those affected by variable-interest real estate loans a conversion to fixed-interest loans has recently been rejected by their coalition partner ÖVP. Nevertheless, Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch continued to criticize the banks on Friday. In the Ö1-Mittagsjournal he accused the institutes of providing poor advice to consumers and of not sufficiently pointing out the interest rate risk. There was sharp criticism of Rauch from the ÖVP.
“If wrong advice has been given and people have allowed themselves to be misled into taking out these variable loans, there must be an offer to correct that,” said Rauch (Greens) with regard to the small coalition partner’s conversion proposal. The technical implementation must be discussed. Banks might also voluntarily offer their customers a switch from variable to fixed interest rates, “that is the more helpful and quicker option,” says Rauch.
Rauch also criticized the high proportion of variable loans in Austria. One in two people in this country have a loan with variable interest rates, while the average in other relevant EU countries is less than 25 percent. “Something went massively wrong,” said Rauch in the Ö1 lunchtime journal.
The general secretary of the ÖVP economic association and member of the National Council, Kurt Egger, identified the “appearance of a personal campaign” by Rauch once morest the banks on Friday evening. “The Greens would do well to stop the pre-election campaign noise and let absurd ideas that are constitutionally difficult to implement disappear into the mothballs once more.” Borrowers have benefited from low interest rates for years. “Where will we end up if we, responsible citizens, take every economic decision out of the hands of the citizens and back it up with a fully comprehensive mentality and a nanny state,” asked the representative of the major coalition partner.
The ÖVP had already emphasized on Wednesday that the green proposal was not an issue for them and was legally difficult to implement. Franz Rudorfer, managing director of the WKÖ’s federal banking and insurance division, also warned this week once morest “constitutionally questionable quick fixes”.
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