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Borrowers association demands immediate relief measures

foreclosure

The Association for the Protection of Borrowers (Syprodat) on Wednesday released a statement calling on the government to draw up and implement immediate relief measures for consumers, households, businesses and borrowers, in view of the end of the moratorium on foreclosures at the end of January.

“The matter is urgent because on January 31, 2023, the suspension of foreclosures comes to an end, so all those in charge should consider what is going to happen and must seriously attempt to prevent it”, the association said in its statement.

What is more, the association noted that borrowers are willing to cooperate with the banks on the basis of the relevant directive and the code of conduct of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC), adding that “the die has been cast, there is no more”.

The association goes on to mention that many borrowers are constantly urging Syprodat to call on all borrowers to stop paying their loans, leaving their properties at the disposal of the banks.

In addition, the association said that the majority of borrowers have been asking for the association to call on its members to take to the streets in full force, as was done recently in Athens, Greece.

“The defiant inaction of the government has been harming borrowers, households and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), with the result being that the local economy is now in real danger,” the association said, noting that the announcement of the rent-for-mortgage scheme has been shrouded in vagueness, with no one fully aware as to when the scheme will be implemented, if it ever truly comes to fruition.

“While the unprecedented rise in costs, primarily due to inflation and the war in Ukraine, is plaguing citizens across all European countries, with their respective governments deciding to take various measures to provide relief for their people, Cyprus has seen no planning and no measures having been decided as of yet,” the association added.

Furthermore, the association stated that “the government is sleeping, not the righteous sleep, but unfortunately the sleep of the unrighteous”.

Syprodat also used its statement to issue a reminder that the Greek government has already drafted and implemented various relief measures to deal with matters related to soaring costs and how these affect people’s ability to repay their lending obligations.

These include the government covering 50 per cent of the instalment increase for 12 months for around 30,000 borrowers and reducing some bank fees.

In addition to this, Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras has asked banks and loan management companies to increase approvals of debt settlements through an out-of-court resolution mechanism.

“We call on the government to immediately devise and enact relief measures for consumers, households and businesses”, the association concluded in its statement, requesting relief measures for borrowers similar to those implemented by the Greek government.

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