Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) yesterday launched an improved online mortgage approval tool in a bid to provide clients with greater flexibility in financing when leveraging the value of their homes.
A first in the industry, the service allows homeowners to adjust the amount of their monthly mortgage payments as needed so that cash-strapped borrowers can avoid dipping into more costly credit loans, the company said.
The adjustments can go as low as paying just the interest, which lowers monthly installments to 30 percent, Bank SinoPac said, adding that installments may be deferred by a maximum of 24 months.
Conversely, borrowers may pay up to three times the principal and interest to shorten the duration of the loan, the bank said.
“The new service will not affect our delinquency rate, as borrowers are prescreened and individual limits are set on adjustments,” Bank SinoPac senior vice president Ting Chen (陳亭如) said.
The service provides borrowers with projected payment amounts based on the changes made to the payment schedule, as well as tools to gather the latest pricing data on the value of their properties to help with planning, Chen said.
The service also grants borrowers the option to apply for incremental loans of up to NT$5 million (US$166,141), as well as a credit card with a NT$3 million limit, on top of the existing mortgage through the company’s mobile app, she said.
Dual-income families earning about NT$80,000 monthly are in dire need of flexibility, as they face average monthly payments of NT$73,000 and NT$53,000 on a NT$15 million mortgage over 20 years and 30 years respectively, Chen said, citing the bank’s research.
As of the end of the first quarter of this year, the lender’s mortgage book stood at NT$425.17 billion, up 5.19 percent from the same period last year, company data showed.
In the first three months of the year, mortgages extended by domestic banks had an average interest rate of 1.8 percent, with the loaned amount averaging 70.26 percent of property prices, data released by the Joint Credit Information Center showed.
Last month, parent company SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) posted NT$905 million in profit, up 56 percent monthly and 24 percent annually, bringing its cumulative profit in the first five months of the year to NT$3.83 billion, 13 percent lower than in the same period last year.
Earnings per share in the period were NT$0.36.
Flagship unit Bank SinoPac reported that profit last month rose 32 percent monthly and 27 percent annually to NT$706 million, while aggregate profits in the first five months of the year rose 1 percent annually to NT$3.528 billion.
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