State Bank of India, on Monday, announced the launch of a special online portal for the restructuring of retail loans.
“Customers can check their eligibility for the restructuring of loans through this portal sitting at their home or office or from anywhere as per their convenience and comfort,” said SBI in a statement.
CS Setty, Managing Director (Retail and Digital Banking), SBI, said the portal will enable customers avoid visiting bank branches during the current pandemic to check if they are eligible for the restructuring.
Verification
The restructuring process will be complete after the verification of documents and execution of simple documents at branch, he told reporters.
“One of the boundary conditions is that any customer seeking restructuring should have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Setty further said.
The borrower would be expected to show if his/her salary or income for August got reduced when compared to February 2020; if there was reduction or suspension in salary during the lockdown period or job loss; and if the business reduced or faced closure due to the pandemic.
Housing and other related loans, education loans, auto loans and personal loans would be covered under the restructuring scheme, provided the loan account is standard on the date of the application and also not in default for more than 30 days as on March 1.
Moratorium
Setty said borrowers would have the option to request a moratorium of one to 24 months and extension in loan term. Borrowers will also be offered a top-up home loan.
The restructuring will, however, not be offered if the borrowers doesn’t expect to be employed in the next 24 months.
“We will rely on the borrower’s assessment of when he will get a job back as it is not in our hands,” said Setty.
Further, borrowers who avail the restructuring, will also be charged 0.35 per cent higher than other customers.
The bank remains cautious of the response to the scheme, and said that people are yet to approach it in a large number.
“Around 3,500 people have accessed the portal, of which, 111 people were eligible,” he said.
The last date to apply for the scheme is December 24.