With the highest interest rate on a commercial bank’s mortgage loan exceeding 6%, the policy mortgage product ‘qualified loan’ and Kakao Bank’s mortgage loan, which can borrow money at an interest rate of 3% per year, are gaining popularity.
According to the financial industry on the 5th, as NH Nonghyup Bank started selling eligible loans in the second quarter of the previous day, loan applications were received for 20.7 billion won (69%) of the 30 billion won sales limit within one day. A Nonghyup Bank official said, “Considering the speed of loan application, the sales limit for eligible loans in the second quarter is expected to be exhausted within today.”
A qualifying loan is a mortgage loan product that repays the principal and interest monthly at a fixed interest rate over a 10- to 40-year contract term. Applicants must be homeless or single-family homeowners, and the mortgaged house price must not exceed 900 million won. The maximum loan limit is Rs. When a bank issues a loan under certain conditions, the Korea Housing Finance Corporation purchases the loan assets. An official from the Korea Housing Finance Corporation explained, “Recently, as interest rates on commercial banks’ mixed-type (fixed interest rate for five years, variable interest rate) have risen rapidly, the interest rates on eligible loans have become relatively cheap, so financial consumers are interested in them.”
As of the 1st of last month, KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, and Woori Bank’s hybrid main loan interest rates were between 4.01 and 6.07 percent. The qualifying loan interest rate is 3.95% per annum, which is still in the 3% range.
As commercial banks resumed sales of qualifying loans, a long-term, fixed-rate product, in the second quarter of this month, it was confirmed that a significant portion of the sales limit had been exhausted.
Woori Bank also used up 38 billion won of its 100 billion won limit in the second quarter. It is reported that Hana Bank has a relatively large limit of 250 billion won, so there is room for the limit.
A commercial bank official explained, “Customers who plan to pay the balance of real estate sales in April often apply for a loan at the branch in advance, so the limit tends to be exhausted early.” Daedo is so popular that it recorded a cumulative contract amount of 110 billion won in one month. In particular, Kakao Bank is aggressively penetrating the market by offering interest rates that are 0.5 percentage points lower than commercial banks and higher limits. On the same day, Kakao Bank announced that it would raise the loan limit from 630 million won to 1 billion won. As of this day, the lowest interest rate on Kakao Bank’s variable main loan loan is 3.01%.
The price limit for mortgage loans has also been lifted. You can get a loan regardless of the market price of the collateral. Previously, only apartments in the metropolitan area with a market price of 900 million won or less might be secured as collateral. However, according to government regulations, loans for the purpose of purchasing a house or returning the rental deposit are restricted for apartments in speculation and overheated speculation districts with a market price of over 1.5 billion won.
Kakao Bank will completely waive the prepayment fee for customers who have made loans by the end of this year. Most banks charge a prepayment fee of up to 1.5% of the loan amount when the customer repays the loan in advance for a home equity loan.
As the demand for household loans decreased in the first quarter due to high interest rates and loan regulations, commercial banks, which became urgent, are moving to lower the lending rate. On the same day, Nonghyup Bank announced that it would cut the main loan interest rate by 0.3 percentage points from the 8th.
Since the main loan interest rate was lowered by 0.2 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points in January and February, respectively, considering this additional cut, the main loan interest rate will be lowered by 0.6 percentage points in total this year alone. A Nonghyup Bank official said, “We are considering lowering the interest rate on credit loans, but the timing or extent of the cut has not been decided.”
Kookmin Bank decided to further cut interest rates on main loans and jeonse loans for one month in April. From this day on, the interest rate for variable-type main loan products will drop by 0.15 percentage points and 0.45 percentage points for mixed types.
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