The countdown to the "anchor change" of mortgage interest rates has entered the countdown. August 31 is the last time for the conversion of pricing benchmarks between financial institutions and existing floating-rate loan customers. Recently, many banks have issued notices stating that they will link the automatic carry-forward of customers who have not operated the interest rate pricing method with the loan market quoted interest rate (LPR) until August 20.

An account manager of a state-owned bank stated that, so far, most of the bank's loan customers have chosen the LPR pricing benchmark. "At present, the bank is nearly complete conversion." The account manager said, "Loan customers can learn about the conversion rules through mobile banking, SMS notifications, bank branch calls, etc. The LPR quotations were lowered twice in February and April this year. Many Customers use LPR as their mortgage pricing benchmark."

Many lenders have reported that since March, banks have urged them to convert loan interest rates to LPR pricing as soon as possible: "The banks tell us that we can now enjoy the discount of falling loan interest rates by switching to LPR. If you think that loan interest rates will fall in the future, choose LPR. Pricing; if you think the loan interest rate will rise, it is more cost-effective to fix the interest rate."

Regarding the choice of repricing date, each bank has different options for customers. It is understood that some rural commercial banks only provide January 1 of each year as the repricing date, and foreign banks such as Citibank only provide the loan issuance date as the repricing date. The reporter learned that banks including ICBC, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and Agricultural Bank of China provide loan customers with the above two repricing day options.

Some loan customers question whether these two repricing methods will affect the rights and interests of loan customers? The question of a lender in Hangzhou is very representative: "My first repayment date at the bank was May 8, 2012, and the loan interest rate was 4.41%. After the conversion, the interest rate was increased to -0.39%. The LPR quoted interest rate -0.39% on the day or January 1 determines the loan interest rate for that year. In the long run, which repricing day is cost-effective?"

According to industry insiders, the difference between the two repricing daily repayment amounts is very small and only affects a few months. "For most banks, it is customary to convert the loan interest rate on January 1st, so as to facilitate statistics on the overall loan balance and interest." Insiders believe that the current conversion on January 1 will be beneficial to lenders. You can enjoy several interest rate cuts during the year earlier. If you calculate it with a 30-year loan of 1 million yuan, you can basically save about 90 yuan in monthly payment."

For banks, the credit policy may be tightened at the end of the year, which will have no impact on the calculation of existing customer mortgages, but it may have an impact on new customers applying for loans. "Generally speaking, there is no situation where the monthly repayment pressure is different due to different repricing days." An industry insider said, "After January 1, if the bank's credit policy is tightened, it may be proposed to increase the number of new loan applicants. In the calculation of “LPR + basis point” for existing customers, LPR will not fluctuate at the beginning of the month or the beginning of the year, and the basis point is also fixed."

Compared with fixed interest rates, LPR is a more market-oriented product. Since the beginning of this year, LPR quotations have been lowered twice. Market participants believe that the adjustment of LPR quotations is related to economic performance, real estate policies, and liquidity releases. Affected by the economic recovery, the keynote for the next period of time is to guide market interest rates down.