You are here

Approvals for participation in Estia Scheme at 338 in early February

08/02/2021 09:54

The number of applicants who received a letter of approval to participate in the ESTIA Scheme until early February reached 338, while 340 applications are in the approval process.

The Scheme aims to help borrowers to repay their loans, as the government subsidizes part of the repayment instalments by 1/3 of the restructured loan.

Head of the Estia Scheme at the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance, Marios Savvides, told CNA that a total of 835 borrower applications for participation in ESTIA are still to be sent by the banks to the competent service of the Ministry of Labour, while he noted that around 200 applications are returned weekly to the banks because they are not correctly completed. He estimated that by the end of February the banks will have completed the submission of all applications. In order to benefit from the Scheme, borrowers must come to an arrangement with the Bank regarding the restructuring of their loans.

As Savvides said, by early February, the banks had sent to the Ministry of Labour 5,546 applications for participation in the Scheme, out of a total of about 6,381 applications submitted by borrowers for loans of a value of €1.9 billion. To be eligible, borrowers must meet certain wealth and income criteria.

Of the 5,546 applications 3,473 are complete applications, 1,566 are incomplete and 58 have been withdrawn, while 449 applications concern special cases, which will be sent for approval or rejection to the special committee composed of the Ministers of Finance and Labour.

In addition, the Head of Estia Sheme told CNA that to date, his service has completed the examination process and sent around 2,380 letters to Estia Plan applicants, of which 338 were approval letters and the remaining letters rejection. In addition, he said that a total of 679 applications for inclusion in the Scheme will be sent to the Ministry of Finance for further handling.