ATHENS: One of Greece’s largest banks will wipe away the debts and freeze the mortgages of clients who owe up to €20,000 ($21,600) in a move designed to ease the burden on its crisis-hit customers.
The Bank of Piraeus, one of the country’s four major banks, decided to write off or restructure debts in response to the “humanitarian crisis” through which its poorest clients were living, the company said in a statement. Greece’s external debt audit may reform the European Union by serving as an example to other countries and making the bloc more democratic
Any clients who carry up to €20,000 in credit cards and consumer loans would have their debt written off completely, the bank said, while mortgage payments would be frozen and any associated interest forgiven. The cut to mortgage loans only applies to interest imposed for as long as the loan remains frozen, which will apply up to the end of this year.
