Banking with us during Covid-19

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Supports for our customers to manage your finances

If you are experiencing financial difficulties now as a result of Covid-19, the deadline for applying for a Covid-19 payment break has passed (30th September 2020) However, we do have solutions designed and tailored to support customers experiencing financial difficulty.

We fully understand that you might be concerned about your financial situation and we’re committed to supporting all of our customers and we have a solutions available depending on your circumstance. We are here for you and will work to help you during this challenging time. 

For further information you can contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 who will discuss your options with you.

Guide to Payment Breaks

The Banking Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) and the member banks have prepared this handy guide to payment breaks (PDF, 1.7MB) which you may find useful.

As a KBC customer how are we supporting you?

We have a range of financial measures to support customers who are facing financial difficulties as a result of Covid-19.

These include:

  • The deadline for applying for a Covid-19 payment break has passed (30th September 2020). However, we do have solutions designed and tailored to support customers experiencing financial difficulty. For further information you can contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 who will discuss your options with you.
  • Free contactless: in respect of card payments and for people concerned about handling cash payments – across all our Business current accounts all contactless payments are free for domestic and eurozone transactions.
  • We have increased the contactless payment limit from €30.00 to €50.00. Banks, retailers and technology companies have worked together in order to facilitate the limit increase in response to Covid-19 and this increase will help limit the number of cash transactions. The new limit applies to all contactless transactions made in store with a physical debit or credit card across most essential retail outlets in Ireland. 
  • Customers can contact your Business Partner or our dedicated Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 to discuss any financial concerns  or questions regarding Covid-19.

About a Covid-19 Payment Break

If you are experiencing financial difficulties now as a result of Covid-19, the deadline for applying for a Covid-19 payment break has passed (30th September 2020). However, we do have solutions designed and tailored to support customers experiencing financial difficulty.
 
Please contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 to discuss you options.

Fraud and COVID-19:

Fraudsters will continue to exploit the current situation to facilitate various types of fraud and cybercrime. To protect yourself from these threats please continue to be vigilant with phishing emails received or emails with attachments that may contain malware.

Be alert to suspicious phone calls, texts or emails from anyone claiming to be from the bank with a message about Coronavirus. Trusted organisations will NEVER ask you for your full PIN or password, or ask you to move money from your account.

Most of all we would ask our customers to continue to stay safe and take care.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • A payment break gives you a break from repaying your business loan. Under a payment break agreed with your lender, the loan repayment is postponed for an agreed period of time. Any repayments not made during this period will continue to be charged with interest and must be paid back in the future. What this means for your repayments is explained later in these FAQs.
  • Your monthly repayments are reduced during the arrangement. After the arrangement ends, there will be an increase in your monthly repayments due.  The reason for this is that, depending on the type of arrangement you availed of, there will be an amount of capital and/or accrued interest that you will have deferred the repayment of during the arrangement.  These deferred repayments will need to be repaid over the remaining term of your loan, and so your monthly repayments will be adjusted at the end of the arrangement to take this into account. Before your arrangement ends, we will contact you to let you know what the increased monthly repayment will be. Depending on your circumstances, we may be able to extend the term of the loan by the number of months of which you availed of the Covid-19 payment break. This will result in less of an increase in your revised scheduled repayment but it will mean that your loan term will be longer and it will involve additional cost. 
     
    Please contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 to discuss further.
  • Yes.  Where you take a payment break (moratorium), you are deferring the payment of both interest and capital. Where you avail of an interest only arrangement, you are deferring the payment of capital only.
     
    Interest that accrues during the payment break will be capitalized and repaid over the remaining term of the loan. As such, it attracts interest in the same way as the loan advances until repaid in full. In addition, the capital repayments that are deferred under a payment break or interest only arrangement means you are repaying the loan more slowly than originally scheduled. Interest is still be charged on those deferred capital repayments. Together, these represent an additional cost of credit.  

    Please refer to your confirmation and/or roll-off letter which outlines your cost of credit impacts as a result of the payment break. If you have any queries please contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414

Coming off a Covid-19 Payment Break

  • If you are not able to resume your scheduled repayments, please contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team as soon as possible on 1800 804 414 to discuss your options.
  • If you have availed of a Covid-19 payment break that is coming to an end, and you need additional support depending on your circumstance, please contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 who will discuss your options with you.

    Where your Covid-19 Payment Break has ended and you do not resume full repayments on your Business Loan, it means that your credit record will be impacted – we are required by law to report all outstanding loans to the Central Credit Register (CCR). We’re also required to report outstanding loans to the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB). A poor record on either register may impact your ability to get approval for credit in the future.
    For additional information on Business Banking Financial Difficulty Process please see our Information booklet here.

Other FAQs

  • If you availed of a payment break, where applicable, it is important that you review your Life Assurance policy to ensure that you have enough cover in place taking into account your payment break.  We recommend that you ensure that any protection policy on your facility is sufficient to repay the facility on the basis of the revised payment arrangement.
  • While Covid -19 payment breaks are no longer available, if you are not able to resume your scheduled repayments, please contact your Business Partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 to discuss your options.
     
    You should be aware where you do not make full repayments on your Business Loan, it means that your credit record will be impacted. We are required by law to report all outstanding loans to the Central Credit Register (CCR). We’re also required to report outstanding loans to the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB). A poor record on either register may impact your ability to get approval for credit in the future.
  • If you still have unanswered questions about the options available to you, please contact your business partner or the Business Support Team on 1800 804 414 who will be happy to help you.