PKO BP wants to help franc loan borrowers

Ten post dostępny jest także w języku: polski

PKO Bank Polski is launching a settlement program for franc loan borrowers that will allow the conversion of the loan currency into PLN. The solution can be used by clients who are still paying off a housing loan contracted in Swiss francs, and the conversion to a PLN loan will enable the loan to be settled as if it had been contracted in the Polish currency from the date of the agreement.

The PKO BP programme is addressed to individual customers who have taken a loan for their own housing purposes, but the offer does not cover customers who have already repaid the loan or benefited from the Borrowers Support Fund. According to PKO BP’s announcement, a foreign currency loan, once converted into a PLN loan, will be settled as if it had been taken out in PLN from the date of the agreement. Other parameters of the loan will also remain unchanged, such as the loan term, the form of repayment and the fees, commissions and insurance premiums incurred. The interest rate, which will be used to calculate the amount of the loan converted into PLN, will be based on a variable interest rate as of the date of the agreement. The exact calculations will be communicated to the clients before the mediation meeting in the Court of Arbitration, and the interest rate will be determined as the sum of the reference index WIBOR 3M and a margin.

According to Jan Emeryk Rościszewski, President of PKO BP, the offered solution allows to fully eliminate the currency risk. Customers who decide to take advantage of the settlement programme will not incur additional costs, and the whole procedure will take place faster than in the case of a lawsuit in a court of law. The solution has been designed in such a way that the conclusion of a settlement can take place in a short time. As explained in the press release, all financial parameters of the proposal will be presented to the client during the mediation proceedings before the Court of Arbitration at the Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). This includes the amount of the post-conversion balance and the amount of the possible overpayment that will be returned by the bank.

Customers can apply online using the bank’s transaction service, and the process will not generate any costs. Mediation meetings will be held online, and customers will only have to appear in person at a bank department when the settlement agreement is signed. The bank will bear all court costs of the mediation. The launch of the programme was preceded by the approval on 23 April 2021 of a resolution on settlements with foreign currency borrowers and the acceptance of the terms of the settlements by the bank’s supervisory board.