EAPB member MFB develops online loan application scheme for retail clients
18 May 2018From 7 May, clients interested in the Retail Energy Efficiency Loan, available at 0% interest, can also submit their loan applications online. Using the online application available on the website (www.mfb.hu) of the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB), clients can submit their loan applications swiftly and easily, from the comfort of their homes. Various explanations, tutorials and videos assist applicants in completing the required documentation.
Through its digitalization strategy launched in 2017, MFB’s priority objective is to become Central Europe's first digital development bank. As the development process is based on client needs, the first application has been developed for the largest target group, retail clients. They can use the application to submit their loan applications online, even from home, for European Union financing, available as part of the Retail Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme. While the MFB has been the first among the region’s development institutions to provide such a service, the solution is distinctly forward-looking even in comparison with the development projects of commercial credit institutions.
The Online Loan Application Scheme has been designed for private individuals, who can submit their loan applications for a maximum amount of HUF 5 million. The loan application may be submitted following a swift registration process, while the completion of the application form can be suspended and later resumed by clients at any time. The available data can be uploaded by clients on an ongoing basis while planning and reconsidering their projects, i.e. they need not enter all information on a single occasion. The documents required for the loan application can be uploaded to the website.
During the online application process, clients are also provided assistance by phone. The MFB staff help clients with respect to registration, while expert assistance to complete the documentation is provided during banking hours by the call center of credit institutions operating MFB points.
As the entire loan application process can be completed within the Online Loan Application Scheme, applicants are only required to appear in person at the MFB Point selected in the online app to verify their online applications. Following the loan assessment, the client will be required to appear once more at the selected MFB Point in order to sign his or her contract.
Within the framework of the Retail Energy Efficiency Loan Program (codes: GINOP-8.4.1/A-17 and VEKOP-5.2.1-17), financed by the European Union, clients can apply for reimbursable grants to improve energy efficiency, including frontal thermal insulation, ceiling and floor insulation, the replacement of doors and windows and the modernisation of lighting and heating systems. In addition, the loan amount can also be used for the utilisation of renewable energy sources, including solar panel and solar collector systems and heat pump and biomass heat generation devices.
The interest rate for the loan, available at significantly more favorable conditions compared to market conditions, is 0% for the entire term of the loan, with a minimum down payment of 10% and a maturity of up to 20 years. The available loan amount varies between HUF 500,000 and HUF 10 million for a family house and between HUF 500,000 and HUF 7 million for condominiums and housing cooperatives. No security is required, i.e. no mortgage is registered on the property, for loans below HUF 5 million.
The retail energy efficiency loan has no other additional charges, such as a handling fee or a surcharge for early repayment. Applicants do not need to take interest rate or exchange rate risks into account, in other words, only the loan amount actually received must be repaid during the term of the loan.
In addition to the option to apply for the loan online, clients can, as a matter of course, submit their applications at any of the 642 MFB Points around the country. For applications of HUF 5 million or more, clients must in all cases visit one of the MFB Points in person.
All information on the Online Loan Application Scheme, MFB Points and the European Union’s loan and combined loan programs are available at the www.mfb.hu website.