Have French mortgages been suspended?

The French government has not introduced any specific measures for helping members of the public in difficulty with mortgage or other loan payments.

The Fédération Bancaire Française which represents all the banks installed in France says anyone who finds themselves in financial difficulties should contact their bank, in preference via their bank’s telephone app or via their website so that the details of each individual case can be examined.

Most contracts have clauses written into them which will allow postponement or alteration of payments, the FBF says.

BNP Paribas confirmed this approach telling Connexion they are treating requests case by case, depending on the circumstances of each person and each contract, but would be willing to make a break in payments for several months if need be.

The federation of brokers, Association Professionnelle des Intermédiares en Crédits, Apic has written to the Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire and the Housing Minister, Julien Denormandie asking for more general measures to be put into place, as they have been for businesses, so that those in difficulty could have their payments suspended for up to six months.