AIZhK has expanded the circle of borrowers who can count on help when restructuring a mortgage. Now support is available not only to those whose incomes have sharply fallen, but also to borrowers whose loan payments have risen, including because of a foreign currency mortgage or a floating rate. Housing requirements have also been eased, and the aid scheme provides an additional loan to cover at least 12 monthly payments. Demand for the program is growing, but banks are in no hurry to take part because there is no guarantee that AIZhK will buy back troubled loans.

At the end of last week, the Agency expanded the range of borrowers who can count on its help in repaying their mortgage. The previous version of the “Standards for Restructuring Mortgage Loans for Certain Categories of Citizens” set overly strict requirements for the borrower’s income, the area, and the value of the property purchased with the loan, which meant that no more than 15% of those who actually needed support could qualify for AHML assistance. At the “Irkutsk Mortgage Agency,” which is now the regional representative of AHML, 22 people have been consulted so far. Documents were accepted from only five.
The Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending is the country’s largest organization refinancing mortgage loans. It provides banks with funds for issuing mortgage loans by buying from them mortgages already issued in the form of mortgage notes. The state allocated 60 billion rubles to AHML to help mortgage borrowers who, because of the crisis, are having difficulty repaying their loans
Borrowers whose incomes have sharply decreased and whose apartment purchased with the loan is their only home can still count on assistance. However, borrowers whose loan payments have risen sharply can now also count on the Agency’s support. This has mainly happened to those who took out loans in foreign currency or at floating rates. Requirements for apartments have also been eased. AHML agreed to consider requests from borrowers who bought apartments with loan funds with areas of 30, 35, and 50 sq. m per person, adding 5 sq. m to the maximum apartment area for each category.
The mortgage restructuring scheme now looks like this. The lending bank provides the borrower with an additional loan to cover at least 12 monthly payments on the troubled loan. The new loan is issued by the bank for the same term as the original one, and the apartment purchased with the loan also serves as collateral for it. AHML’s role is that it may buy this loan from the bank, though not until the borrower has restored their solvency.
The number of people wishing to use AHML assistance is growing rapidly. AHML is currently reviewing more than 100 document packages from applicants for assistance, and AHML’s regional operators have already received 1,138 such applications. Assistance has so far been provided to three Russians from Saratov, Samara, and Veliky Novgorod.
Bankers are in no hurry to restructure loans under the agency’s standards, since AHML does not guarantee banks the buyout of troubled loans. And as long as banks have no guarantee of the direct buyout of such loans, the risk of a bank default remains. Therefore, for many banks it is easier to pursue collection and sale of the collateral.