GH Bank, HomePro offer soft loans for repairs
Play
The Government Housing Bank and Home Products Center have launched a soft-loan package for customers to repair their flood-damaged homes.
The interest rate is fixed at 2 per cent for the first five years and then changes to the minimum lending rate (MLR).
The offer is for buyers of at least Bt50,000 worth of renovation products at HomePro from now until March 30.
Worawit Chailimpamontri, president of GH Bank, said yesterday that the loan limit was Bt1 million for borrowers who have an asset guarantee.
For borrowers without an asset guarantee, the loan is limited to Bt100,000 and the interest rate is fixed at 4 per cent for the first five years, before changing to the MLR. They need an income of about 15 per cent of the total loan or about Bt15,000 a month to qualify.
As part of this joint campaign, the bank will also give cash back of about 5 per cent to buyers of home-renovation products at HomePro who are approved for a loan. This is supported by HomePro.
For example, when a flood victim budgets Bt300,000 for house repairs and plans to spend Bt100,000 of the budget on products from HomePro, he will get the fixed-interest loan plus 5 per cent of the cost of the products he buys from HomePro, in this case Bt100,000. This means he will get Bt5,000 in cash back.
GH Bank has also provided relief measures for its flood-affected loan customers. It will extend loan payments for about six months and if the customers were hit particularly hard, the bank is willing to extend loan payments for six more months.
“We now extend loans for more than 60,000 customers,” Worawit said.
Khunawut Thampromkul, managing director of Home Products Center, said the company believed that this campaign would help flood victims reduce the costs of renovating their residences.
It targets sales of up to Bt400 million from this campaign after its sales dropped in October and November when the flood hit Greater Bangkok and the company had to suspend operations at eight branches near inundated areas. Renovation products have been added to its stores to serve demand.
“We believe that the market to renovate residences damaged by the flood will exceed Bt8 billion, based on 800,000 units and spending of at least Bt10,000 per unit,” he said.
After the flood crisis this year, the company plans to spend about Bt500 million to build a distribution centre on the eastern flank of Bangkok such as Lat Krabang or Chachoengsao to ensure logistics security. This is in addition to its business plan to open eight branches worth Bt4 billion next year.
The company’s investment funds will come from its internal cash flow and the issuance of debentures worth Bt2 billion next year, Khunawut said.
