Chinanews.com, February 9th (Chinanews Finance and Economics reporter Zuo Yukun) The homeowner is in a hurry to repay the mortgage in advance, and the bank is even more anxious?
The "loan repayment tide" that runs through 2022 will continue to grow in popularity in 2023.
Why are homeowners rushing to prepay their loans?
Obviously, the bank can return the money early, but why is it not welcome?
A few questions will help you sort out the "loan repayment wave in advance".
Buyers rush to give vs banks don't want
"It used to be difficult to approve loans, but now it is difficult to repay them." In the current context, "repayment" does not refer to the pressure of monthly payments, but how to repay part or even all of the mortgage in advance.
Why does this happen?
58 Zhang Bo, director of the Anjuke Research Institute, pointed out that early repayment of mortgages is essentially a defensive reaction of the public to the uncertainty of the future.
"I have assumed high interest rates, but the price of the house in my hand may not have risen, or even fallen. So the best choice now is to repay the loan, which is equivalent to financial management." Chief Researcher of the Housing Policy Research Center of Guangdong Urban Planning Institute Li Yujia explained.
The recent dynamic adjustment of mortgage interest rates is also a very important trigger.
"For stock mortgages, the disadvantages of high interest rates are even more prominent." Li Yujia said that at this time, either repay the loan, or sell the house after repayment and then buy a house, and move to a low-interest mortgage, so that the monthly payment will be reduced.
Data map: Bank staff count currency.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Yun
The money could have been received in advance, so why did the bank set up obstacles such as liquidated damages or compensation, appointment queuing, etc., to prevent early repayment in disguise?
"One of the main channels for banks to make money is to earn interest through external lending, and mortgage interest is a relatively important high-quality asset." Wang Yuchen, director of Beijing Jinsu Law Firm, said that on the one hand, the longer the cycle, the higher the interest. On the one hand, the previous mortgage interest rate is much higher than it is now, and the difference will become larger and larger as time goes on.
The "Financial Statistics Report 2022" released by the central bank shows that household deposits will increase by 17.84 trillion in 2022, an increase of 7.94 trillion over 2021.
"This includes funds for financial redemption, preventive savings, and funds for delayed house purchases. Most of them become time deposits." Li Yujia explained that the cost of funds is increasing, applications for incremental mortgages are declining, and existing mortgages are being repaid in advance , Bank earnings are naturally affected.
Whether the bank is reasonable vs. how the buyer operates
But in this case, can the bank set up repayment barriers?
"The interest rate of some existing mortgage loans is relatively high, which was affected and determined by the real estate control policy and supply-demand relationship at that time. It reflected the price situation of the mortgage market at that time, and it was not mainly a problem with the bank." Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Union Finance, pointed out that although banks are called on to be borrowers Early repayment provides more convenience, but early repayment is a change to the loan amount or loan term agreed in the original loan contract, and is not the unilateral right of the borrower. It does require a consensus between the borrower and the lender.
According to Wang Yuchen, Article 530 of the "Civil Code" stipulates: The creditor may refuse the debtor's early performance of the debt, except that the early performance does not damage the interests of the creditor.
The debtor shall bear the additional expenses incurred by the obligee in fulfilling the debt in advance.
"If the early repayment of the loan does not harm the interests of the bank, the bank has no right to refuse. In addition, pay attention to the agreement between the two parties." Wang Yuchen reminded that the text of some banks' mortgage loan contracts stipulates that early lending requires payment of liquidated damages. The agreed clauses are actually standard clauses, and the probability of invalidating such clauses in judicial practice is extremely low.
"If it does not comply with the relevant laws and regulations, and there is no relevant agreement, the bank has no right to unilaterally demand compensation or liquidated damages." Wang Yuchen said.
If after confirming the contract, early repayment of the mortgage is still blocked, how should the buyer protect his legitimate rights and interests?
Zhu Yicong, senior partner and lawyer of Beijing Yingke (Shenzhen) Law Firm, proposed three channels for rights protection: first, actively negotiate with the lending bank, and call the customer service telephone of the lending bank's head office to complain; if the above relief methods are not effective, you can call The complaint hotline of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission or the government affairs hotline; finally, according to the agreement on early repayment in the loan contract, a civil lawsuit can be filed with the people's court where the lending bank is located.
"If you need to wait for several months due to bank reasons, you must pay attention to relevant evidence collection." Wang Yuchen reminded that generally speaking, if there is no special APP, it is best to submit the application in writing, and pay attention to the recipient's signature when submitting the application. Receipt, or collect evidence by mail, and keep the postal slip and bank receipt records.
Data map: Commodity residential high-rise buildings Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Chao
Will advance loans continue vs. whether interest rates on existing mortgages can be lowered?
The current prepayment of loans has triggered many waves of upsurge, but the industry generally believes that this is just the beginning.
"As long as the mortgage interest rate is higher than the wealth management interest rate, housing prices and residents expect housing prices to continue to fall, the motivation to repay loans in advance will always exist." Li Yujia pointed out that this is also the reason why the proportion of real estate loans in new loans has declined since last year.
"The previous 6%-7% mortgage interest rate is very different from the current new mortgage interest rate of less than 4%, and the social investment yield continues to decline. As long as the stock mortgage does not decrease, the prepayment will continue in the next few months. Significant increase.” Zhang Dawei, chief market analyst of Centaline Real Estate, believes that overall prepayment is just the beginning.
Faced with the repayment pressure of existing mortgage customers, there are more and more voices calling for lower interest rates on existing mortgages.
From the bank's point of view, Zhang Dawei believes that there is a high probability that banks will not take the initiative to reduce the interest rate of existing mortgages. After all, most of them have become financial products, and once the interest rate of existing mortgages is lowered, it will have a great impact on the bank's profits.
However, from a macro perspective, the market generally believes that there is still room for downward adjustment of LPR quotations with a period of more than 5 years, which are closely related to the interest rate of stock mortgages.
On January 1, 2023, with the lowering of the LPR in 2022, the interest rates of some existing loans began to be repriced, and the mortgage interest rates of home buyers who signed the LPR floating rate will decrease accordingly, but there is still a big gap compared with the current new mortgage interest rates.
"In order to guide the real estate market to achieve a soft landing as soon as possible, there is a high urgency to reduce the quotation of LPR with a period of more than 5 years. In addition to strengthening the supply-side support such as "guaranteed housing", the key is to continue to reduce the interest rate of residential mortgages and promote the stabilization and recovery of the property market. where.” Wang Qing, chief analyst of Dongfang Jincheng, believes that this is also a major force for stabilizing growth and preventing and controlling risks in the first half of the year.
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