Banks to extend housing loans to 30 years

The association made the resolution at a board of directors and supervisors meeting, at the request of the Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

At the meeting, the board of directors and supervisors passed a set of measures governing the extension of maturity terms for housing loans.

Under the measures, qualified applicants will be allowed to apply and extend the maturity terms of their housing loans to a maximum of 30 years. The applications should be filed by the end of 2009.

Qualified applicants are confined to those whose loans are for buying self-residence homes, who have recorded no overdue interest payments, and who have yet to negotiate with banks over the settlement of credit card debts or consumer loans.

A spokesman with the association said that the relaxation measure will prevent those who can't afford regular interest payment in the short time from seeing their houses auctioned by the courts.

Lawmakers Ting Shou-chung and Lai Shi-pao of the ruling Kuomintang have proposed to the FSC and the Ministry of Finance to seek ways to ease the interest rate payment burden on home buyers to help tide them over the financial predicament. In response, the FSC has asked the Bankers Association to hold a board of directors and supervisors meeting to work out measures of extending the maturity terms for housing loans they grant.

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