Mortgage holidays and preferential rates are available to Russians. What you need to know

The State Duma Committee supported the initiative to increase mortgage holidays for families with children under one and a half years old. Currently, such holidays are provided for six months if the borrower's income has decreased by 20%, and mortgage payments amount to 40% of income. What other tools can facilitate the payment of a mortgage — in the material of Izvestia.

Mortgage holidays

• Mortgage holidays are a deferral of monthly payments. Now it can be up to six months. In the case of holidays, missed payments are not canceled, but simply postponed, extending the mortgage repayment period. This support measure is available for both existing and new mortgage loans, but only if this is the borrower's only home and the mortgage value at the time of application does not exceed 15 million rubles.

• You can count on mortgage holidays in case of job loss, loss of income due to retirement, a decrease in income by 30% or more, an increase in the number of dependents — children or other disabled relatives, in case of an emergency and finding housing in a disaster area, or participation in your own. The borrower must provide official documents to confirm the difficult life situation.

Payment reduction

• Early repayment of the mortgage loan allows you to reduce the overpayment of interest. At the same time, in the early years of the mortgage, early payments have the maximum effect, since at this time the borrower's payments are almost completely spent on paying interest, and the principal debt practically does not decrease — the situation is leveled only by the middle of the loan term. Up to this point, even early payments in small monthly amounts of 2-3 thousand rubles can significantly reduce the overpayment. For these purposes, you can use the received tax deductions and tax refunds for the mortgage interest paid.

• Early payments can be used both to shorten the loan repayment period and to reduce monthly payments. Reducing the duration of payments turns out to be more profitable, but if monthly mortgage payments cause serious damage to the family budget, it is better to rely on reducing their size, because mortgage arrears threaten much more serious consequences. Early payments are recommended to be made immediately after the monthly payments are written off, so less interest will be charged on the remaining debt.

Mortgage refinancing

• Refinancing is the receipt of a new loan on more favorable terms, which closes the previous one. Thanks to it, it is possible to reduce the amount of payment, increase or shorten the repayment period, obtaining conditions acceptable to a particular borrower. To refinance a mortgage, you should contact a bank that can offer an acceptable scheme. You can also contact the same bank that issued the mortgage for a review, but the likelihood that it will restructure the debt is usually extremely low.

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• When refinancing a mortgage, there are several nuances to keep in mind. Firstly, usually any mortgage is accompanied by insurance in the amount of 1% of the loan amount. Accordingly, in order for the new loan to be profitable enough, the difference in rates should be at least 1.5–2 percentage points. Secondly, if a child is born in the family after the registration of a market mortgage, this makes it possible to refinance it at a preferential rate of 6% in accordance with the family mortgage program. This is the most profitable option for refinancing.

How to get a mortgage profitably

• In Russia, there are several preferential mortgage programs that allow you to take out a loan more profitably than at market rates. These are family mortgages (6%), Arctic and Far Eastern mortgages (2%), IT mortgages (6%), family mortgages (3%) and military mortgages (up to 5.8%). There are certain conditions and restrictions for each of them.

• If you have sufficient savings, you can purchase real estate profitably if you invest not in buying an apartment with the available funds today, but in federal loan bonds at current high rates. Given that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation predicts a reduction in the key rate over the horizon of two years, the mortgage rate will decrease in the future, and interest on bonds will be fixed by that time. Such a scheme with a deferred purchase of an apartment with a mortgage instead of buying it now without contacting the bank allows you to pay off a loan from coupon receipts and have additional income, and then sell OFZ and get at least their face value for them.

Proper budget allocation

• A mortgage loan requires the borrower to carefully manage their own funds and competently manage their own budget. Timely payments should become a habit, as even two days of late payment will serve as a reason for the bank to demand early collection of the debt. Money for a mortgage account should be set aside immediately after receiving personal income.

• It is necessary to learn how to allocate funds for mandatory expenses — in addition to mortgages, these are utility bills, food, transportation, clothing, and unforeseen expenses. In order not to mix these expenses, you can create target accounts for each item in the banking application, distribute income to them and spend funds strictly for their intended purpose.