'Fixed payment home loan: changes to the amount are possible.'

Families can now make a fix on their mortgage payment for two years, a new government measure that came into effect on November 2. But, in fact, there are some families whose housing payment will change over the next 24 months after joining this support, so it will not be fully fixed. It is guaranteed that the amount payable will be less, although the discount may not always be 30% of Euribor for 6 months. Explanation.

When the measure provided for by Legislative Decree number 91/2023 of October 11

comes into effect

The Bank of Portugal (BdP) has published a set of questions and answers about the temporary fixing of the mortgage payment. And in them, it clarifies that the housing payment will indeed decrease in''During the first 24 months after joining. But, in fact, the housing payment may not be fixed during this period for all cases.

"In some cases, the payout may not always be the same," the Portuguese regulator clarifies. This is because there are two ways to calculate the housing payment under this support: one is based on applying 70% of the Euribor rate for 6 months in force in the previous month relative to the request (plus a surcharge); in the other case, if the application of 70% Euribor for 6 months is not enough to repay the initial interest on the contract, then the housing payment will correspond to "the amount of interest that should have been paid according to the initial terms of the contract," explains BdP.

What''Regarding the second case

BdP specifies that 'over a 24 month period, the index associated with the original contract terms may change and the amount of interest to be paid under the original contract terms may change and result in a higher housing payment'.

In other words, it will all depend on how Euribor changes, if it increases it will affect the calculation of the housing payment under the accepted support. This also means that in these cases the 30% discount from Euribor is not guaranteed.

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What happens after the housing benefit fixing ends?

After two'. 'Years of housing payment fixing "the monthly payment will be higher than if you had not joined the measure", warns the BdP.

But why will the housing payment be higher than the original payment plan? "Because the amount owed at the end of the 24th month will be higher than if you keep the original contract terms, since a smaller share of the principal is paid during the first 24 months," points out the regulator, led by Mariu Centeno.

So, from the second year of the fixing, the new housing payment will be calculated using the interest rate derived from the original contract and will vary depending on the term of the contract. But it will always be higher than for borrowers who have not joined''it.