For the millions of businesses that have taken out a government guaranteed loan to deal with the crisis, it is time to look at how and when to repay.

Banks have been calling each company for two months to develop these processes.

Some are already in difficulty to repay.

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A year ago, the first State Guaranteed Loans (PGEs) were signed by banks to help businesses cope with the crisis.

They now have to think about how to repay them.

Banks started calling out one by one the several million companies that have taken out EMPs a few weeks ago.

The repayment conditions, and in particular the duration of the loan, had not been fixed from the outset.

During the year, these loans have been improved several times.

With the hardening of the crisis, seven out of ten companies plan to run their loans until the end of the term, ie six years.

Yet one in two companies has not yet used their EMP.

Faced with the uncertain situation, companies prefer to play it safe. 

Some companies are already struggling to repay

But these loans are not free: borrowers must pay the state guarantee.

This represents a rate of 1% for VSEs and SMEs which choose the longest durations.

To this must be added the cost of credit for the banks, which, however, have undertaken not to make a margin on these loans.

Although most borrowers had understood the mechanism rather, some had a nasty surprise.

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“Initially, we were told it was at 0%. Afterwards, my accountant and I heard about loans at 0.25%. And there, at the last postponement of repayment of the loan, we had passed at 1.26%. We are caught by the throat. I think I will have to lay off. Unfortunately, I can not do otherwise, "said a restaurant owner from Ile-de-France.

Last year, he urgently signed a loan of 300,000 euros.

If Bercy claims to hear these difficulties, the Ministry of the Economy however explains that it is impossible to make completely free loans.

Refusal of banks to reschedule debts

The difficulties for entrepreneurs are all the more important as these EMPs are often not the only loans taken out by companies.

Many already have to repay their traditional loans, for the purchase of premises for example.

Many of them request deferrals from their bank, without success.

"We have a lot of refusal from the banks to reschedule the debts that were contracted by companies before the crisis, on the basis of an activity that has absolutely nothing to do with", says Didier Chenet, chairman of the GNI, which brings together independent restaurateurs.

In the space of ten days, he said he had sent 200 files to the Banking Federation, which represents all the banks established in France.

This ensures for its part to look at each file and see what it is possible to do.

She also claims that the default rate for these loans is now less than 5%.