Omnibus bill to be tabled in Parliament protects only the poorest from losing homes to debt

The moment of truth has arrived for foreclosures of private homes that are mortgaged and changes to the scheme for debt settlement in 100 installments. The agreement between the government and its creditors (EC, ECB, ESM, IMF) was reached after midnight on Monday after lengthy negotiations and is expected to be confirmed on Tuesday in a teleconference call with the Euro Working Group so that it can be voted on by Thursday night. The goal is to pave the way for the 10 bn for the recapitalization of Greek banks + a 2-bln-euro subtranche for Greece.

“We have reached an agreement on everything, including the 48 prior actions,” said a triumphant Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos at dawn on Tuesday, but there are still a number of grey zones and the amount of funds that Greece is to receive by Monday is still a veritable unknown.

After being notified of the agreement on Tuesday the Euro Working Group will convene on Friday to give the green light to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) for the release of the 2-bn-euro subtranche benchmarked for Greece. The release of 10 bn euros for the recapitalization of Greek banks will take place at a later date as banks need to complete their book offerings so that the amount of funds they need can be calculated.

The agreement reached with creditors included the strategy of handling non-performing (so-called “red loans” or NPLs) and their sale to foreign distress funds, but the regulations for these will be drafted in another bill in December. It is still unknown which loans are to be sold and the percentage of homes or businesses that will be up for foreclosures. It is believed that these loans will be classified according to their amount and the economic sector which they pertain to.

The government’s goal is to protect people from losing their primary residence to auctions.

Government sources say that the omnibus bill to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday and voted on Thursday will include the following arrangements:

1. A focus on the real estate to come under foreclosures. The government estimates that out of the 1.2 mln active loans there are around 400,000 non-performing loans of which 170,000 of these are under the Katseli Law. 150,000 – 200,000 homes could be sold from foreclosures, however another 30,000 – 50,000 homes may change hands. Only the poor can hope for full protection as homes will be saved according to the income of the mortgage holder (under 8,180 euros per annum), the value of the home (under 170,000 euros) and the family condition of the mortgage holder (no lifting of restrictions for families with more children). Another facet of the agreement includes the setting up of a reserve fund of 100 million euros for poor and unemployed borrowers with outstanding debts whose installments will be paid by the state.

2. Changes to the debt settlement payments in 100 tranches includes stricter terms so that people who delay payments are penalized. The leeway that debtors have to make payments in 30 days will now be shortened to 15 (or 20) days from June 2016 and then shortened further to 15 (or 10) days from January 2017. From 2017 onwards there will not be even a day’s delay accepted.

3. Non-overdue debts will also be settled in 12 installments. This will be beneficial for those who have difficulties in meeting the tax hikes. To settle tax dues in installments, taxpayers would be able to make a submission to taxisnet along with their tax declaration to show genuine difficulty in meeting payments.

4. Thoughts of a 23% VAT hike for private education has been scrapped and has been replaced by equal measures, such as an additional duty of 5 cents per column played in lucky games. Greece’s creditors believe that there are still 100 mln euros missing even if this measures is enforced. They are also concerned that there may be a drop in gambling meaning that the yield would also be reduced so they have called for the government to come up with back-up measures to cover any convergence.