With the ruling New Democracy Conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and one of his two coalition partners, the PASOK Socialists, failing to pay banks 250 million euros ($330.65 million) in loans and giving immunity to loan officers for approving them without sufficient collateral, the Greek Parliament on June 10 will consider whether to give Greeks buried under austerity up to four years to repay what they owe.
The measure is being opposed by PASOK and the other coalition partner, the Democratic Left (DIMAR) which does not want debtors to have more time to pay loans, credit cards and mortgages although pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions have left so many people without enough income that 25 percent of bank loans are in default.
Banks had also aggressively been pursuing customers to pay their debts in full despite losing 30 percent or more of their salaries and pensions and as the government is going to give the banks 50 billion euros ($65 billion) in recapitalization funds that will be diverted from international loans instead of going to social services.
To be eligible for the additional time to pay though, there are certain criteria that the bank customers have to fill and their loan must be secured against a property that has a taxable value of no more than 180,000 euros.
That means people with assets will have more time to pay while those who have no property or assets and can’t pay will be required to pay in full and given no relief, unless the bank agrees. That has forced many Greeks to seek aid from a non-profit agency that seeks to work with banks to restructure or eliminate debts.
Four DIMAR MPs have also submitted a proposal for the freeze on home repossessions to be extended until the end of 2015. Currently, banks cannot repossess homes over unpaid debts if the property is the customer’s main abode and has a taxable value of less than 200,000 euros, ($264,400) but that is due to expire at the end of the year.
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