Interest rates close to zero: KfW promotional loans are becoming significantly cheaper

Vhe many Germans who want to tackle a larger project will soon get even cheaper promotional loans for it. For private individuals who want to build, buy or renovate a property, but also for entrepreneurs with larger investment plans and start-ups, the interest rates can now fall significantly again. This is made possible by a technical innovation at the banks and the state development bank KfW. For some time now, the banking group has been able to refinance itself to a large extent at negative interest rates thanks to its state guarantees. In other words, for bonds with which it borrows money on the capital markets, it ultimately pays back less than it borrowed. The state bank is now passing this financing advantage on to the banks and savings banks in the form of a so-called negative bank purchase, through which the end customers take out their promotional loans.

This will not yet result in negative interest rates for the borrowers, because the banks and savings banks can add their own processing fee. But: “The interest rates for energy-efficient renovation, for example, will move very strongly towards zero,” said a spokesman for KfW when asked by the FAZ. Even entrepreneurs who want to finance larger investments can do this again significantly more cheaply. “With the best credit ratings, it is to be expected that the interest rates will move well below 1 percent, in some cases even around 0.5 percent,” the spokesman said.

Generous grants are already possible

This step had been planned for a long time. As early as autumn 2019, the FAZ ran the headline for the first time: “Builders get free money”. But the technical implementation dragged on, the computer programs simply did not accept a minus sign in front of the interest rate. Since KfW is only allowed to issue its promotional loans through the borrower’s house banks, all banks and savings banks had to make appropriate investments in their IT systems. Finally, the corona pandemic delayed the project for another year.

In the meantime, KfW has provided a number of its promotional programs with repayment grants, which has a similar effect to negative interest rates for the borrower: for example, if you renovate an old house to such an extent that it complies with the KfW energy efficiency standard, you only need 72,000 euros of a promotional loan of 120,000 euros Pay back euros. These grants should continue to be awarded, although negative interest can now also be passed on, as the KfW spokesman said.

New responsibilities

As of July 1st, these grants will even be expanded. The federal government will redistribute some responsibilities on the date. For example, building owners who want to build without loans can also receive grants for this, which they then have to apply to the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control.

The CEO of KfW, Günther Bräunig, said on Monday: “The passing on of negative bank costs in our promotional programs is a further milestone in the cooperation with our financing partners after KfW Corona aid.” It strengthens the attractiveness of the promotional loans and enables a differentiated one Interest rate structure in accordance with the strategic funding goals and thus support important future investments in climate protection as well as in digitization, sustainability and innovations.

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source https://pledgetimes.com/interest-rates-close-to-zero-kfw-promotional-loans-are-becoming-significantly-cheaper/