The rise of 0.5 points in interest rates undertaken by the European Central Bank (ECB) on December 15 was a new setback for mortgagees, who saw how the Euribor went from being at negative rates to touching in 2022 3%, as this newspaper already reported.
Although -with a view to 2023 and taking into account that the ECB will loosen, in principle, the rate of interest rate rises because inflation is now more moderate- organizations such as Funcas are already forecasting a much more stable Euribor, there is a series of aid that people with a variable rate mortgage can benefit from.
On its website, the ECB explains that “Royal Decree-Law 19/2022 contemplates measures to alleviate the burden of your mortgage if certain requirements are met». To this he adds that these measures only affect mortgages on habitual residence and that it is applied in two cases.
The first case occurs when the price of the home on which the mortgage weighs is not greater than 300,000 euros; the owner’s income is less than three and a half times the Public Indicator of Multiple Effects Income (IPREM), that is, 29,400 euros per year forecast for 2023; as well as that the mortgage charge is greater than 30% of the income and that, in addition, it has risen by at least 20%. Once these three requirements are met, it is possible, for a period of two years, to freeze the mortgage payment for twelve months, change the variable rate to a fixed one, or obtain an extension of the loan term of up to seven years.
The second assumption occurs when the income is less than three times the IPREM, that is, 25,200 euros per year and more than 50% of it is used to pay the mortgage. If these conditions are met, it is possible to request a grace period of two years, pay a lower interest rate during the grace period, or obtain an extension of the term of up to seven years.
