Banks plead with customers to restart payments – The Australian Financial Review

Those who can pay will have to restart their loans, any longer deferral is just not in their best interest,” Ms Bligh said in a statement.
The industry’s push to get customers back into making regular payments was further underscored by her comments that repaying loans was “in the DNA of every Australian” and every customer who could afford to make full payments “will be expected to do so”.
Ms Bligh’s remarks were backed by ANZ, NAB and Westpac in separate statements. ANZ touched on the elephant in the room when it said customers who took advantage of payment holidays but were unaffected by the crisis would not be granted an extension.
“Customers on existing loan repayment deferrals who have not been financially impacted by COVID-19 will be required to begin making normal repayments at the conclusion of their six-month deferral agreement,” the bank said in a statement.
NAB CEO Ross McEwan spelled out the bank’s expectations soon after. He said deferrals would be granted on a case-by-case basis and only at the conclusion of the original six-month period.
The deferral has provided some much-needed relief, but we are encouraging customers who can begin repayments to do so as soon as they can,” he said. “It is in the customers interest to repay debt sooner.”
Westpac’s acting CEO, Gary Thursby, did likewise when he urged those who had capacity to make payments not to delay and to get their repayments back on track.
“A significant number of customers will be able to resume regular repayments when their deferral term ends,” he said. “We expect these customers to start their repayments again and we would encourage as many people as possible to do so.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman, Wayne Byres, confirmed the regulator would classify all loans that were deferred or restructured as performing up until March 31 for reporting purposes
“These measures are designed to incentivise ADIs

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