RBS has said that 200,000 of its one million mortgage customers across the UK have been approved for mortgage repayment holidays as the coronavirus pandemic hits the UK economy. 

Meanwhile, latest figures from UK Finance have revealed that across the banking industry, 1.82 million mortgage payment holidays have been issued as of May 20, which is the equivalent to one in six mortgages.

The figures arrive as RBS set aside £802 million to pay for potential losses related to coronavirus as customers struggle to cope with loan repayments.

Operating profits at the bank, which is still majority-owned by the taxpayer after the financial crisis, dropped by half to £519m in the first quarter of 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier as a result, The Herald reports.

While banks, in general, have been subject to criticism over the amount of lending they have done through the UK Government’s coronavirus business interruption loans scheme (CBILS), RBS appears has distributed a substantial amount of loans, having approved £2.4 billion, or more than 11,000 loans. That is around 10% of the total CBILS approved loans so far.

RBS has also provided 86,490 customers with £2.7bn through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme in the three weeks since its launch, although one in five have not been approved.

The lender says it has removed late credit card payment fees and it has frozen interest rates on overdrafts at current levels while removing all fees until at least the end of June.

An RBS spokesman said: “We’re committed to supporting our customers through this unprecedented crisis, and that’s why we’ve introduced a range of measures including mortgage, credit card and loan payment holidays and have pro-actively spoken to over 230,000 customers who are elderly, vulnerable or in long-term isolation. We’re continually reviewing the support we offer to ensure that we meet people’s needs.”

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