On account of Covid-19 pandemic, RBI has announced measures to mitigate the burden of debt servicing. Business or individuals may face loss of income or disruption in the Cash Flows, so these measures will help those businesses /individuals. The RBI has allowed all lending institutions to offer a moratorium to borrowers on repayment of all term loans for a period of 3 months. This moratorium also covered credit card dues.
The moratorium was for payment of all instalments falling due between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. However, it was also stated that “Interest shall continue to accrue on the outstanding portion of the term loans during the moratorium.”
According to the RBI, the deferred instalments under the moratorium will include the following payments falling due from March 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020:
(i) principal and/or interest components;
(ii) bullet repayments;
(iii) equated monthly instalments (EMIs);
(iv) credit card dues.
The recovery of Interest applied to Cash Credit/Overdraft on 31st March, 30th April and 31st May 2020 is being ‘deferred’. However, the entire interest must be recovered along with the interest being applied on 30th June 2020 and in cases, where monthly interest is not being applied, along with the next interest date.
What about my Credit Card dues?
The relief is available for Credit Card payments also. In case of Credit Card dues, there is a requirement to pay minimum amount and if it is not paid the same gets reported to Credit Bureaus. In view of the RBI Circular, the overdues in the Credit Card account donot get reported to the credit bureaus for a period of three months. However, interest will be charged by the Credit Card issuer on unpaid amount. Although no penal interest will be charged during this period, but you should remember that the interest rate on Credit card dues are normally much higher.
If you wish to get benefit of this announcement, please see the details and process for various banks:
State Bank of India
Customers who do not want to defer recovery of instalments /EMI: No action is required . They may continue to pay in usual course. Customers who want to defer recovery of installments/EMI:
- NACH: Where collections of such installment / EMI is effected through National Automated Clearing House (NACH), please submit an Application (Annex-I) along with mandate for NACH Extension-(Annexure-II) to stop NACH for these installments through an e-mail to the specified email ID(Annexure-III).
- Standing Instructions (SI): Please submit an Application (Annexure-I)through an email to the specified email ID.(Annexure-III).
ICICI bank
Note for some loan categories, the default in OPT-in while for other you have to specifically request for OPT-in. Check category details.
You can opt for the moratorium by clicking on the link shared with you by the Bank through (i) SMS or (ii) e-mail. You may also visit ICICI Bank’s website www.icicibank.com . The accrued interest will be due and payable immediately after the end of the moratorium i.e. in Jun 2020. Steps to follow for ICICI Bank:
- Online: https://buy.icicibank.com/moratorium.html?ITM=nli_cms_hp_1_static_EMI-moratorium-d_ChooseYourOption
- Full Details available on ICICI Bank Website: https://www.icicibank.com/managed-assets/docs/personal/COVID-regulatory-package-FAQs.pdf
HDFC Bank
Note that by default it is OPT-Out. If you need to avail this benefit, you need to specifically request for OPT-in.
Steps to follow for HDFC Bank: You will have to provide your consent to the bank through any of the following ways:
- Call on this number and follow the instructions – 022-50042333, 022-50042211 ,
- Online: https://apply.hdfcbank.com/vivid/afp?product=mo
- Full details are at HDFC website – https://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/pay/payment-solutions/loan-repayment
Kotak Bank – Stop EMI
Note that by default it is OPT-Out. If you need to avail this benefit, you need to specifically request for OPT-in.
All customers who desire to avail the relief under the policy can send an email from
their registered mail id to [email protected] quoting the Loan account / APAC
number.
https://www.kotak.com/content/dam/Kotak/banks-policy-on-covid-related-reschedulement-of-dues.pdf
Axis bank Customer: How to claim loan / credit card moratorium – guide
Please read below as some loan you need to specifically OPT Out and in some cases you need to specifically OPT-IN.
As per the approved policy of the board, moratorium has been extended to borrowers for certain loans/credit facilities such as:
- Gold Loans
- Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans and Farmer Loans (Cash Credit, Overdraft and Term Loan)
- Microfinance loans (extended by the bank and BC partners)
- Commodity Loans
- Tractor Loans
- Commercial Vehicle Loans
- Construction Equipment Loans
- Business Loans
- Government sponsored schemes
- Unsecured overdraft and term loans(Small Business Banking )
Borrowers having above facilities, whose cash flows are not impacted and do not wish to avail the moratorium, may choose to opt out from the moratorium by sending an email or by reaching out to any of our branches. It is deemed that borrowers have opted for the moratorium if there is no written communication stating otherwise.
For all other loans/credit cards/credit facilities, customers will have to opt in to avail the moratorium benefit and defer the payments falling due between 1 March 2020 and 31 May 2020.