Good News! The Ministry of Finance has approved GH Bank's extension of the budget and timeline for the One Million Houses Project, and will begin verifying the qualifications of applicants before announcing the names on December 25th.

 

Mr. Surachai Danaitangtrakul, Chairman of the Government Housing Bank (GH Bank), revealed after discussions with Mr. Apisak Tantivorawong, the Minister of Finance, that the Minister has instructed GH Bank to assist as many citizens as possible who wish to have housing. During the initial application period for the first house project, which allowed loans of up to 1 million baht, over 130 billion baht in loan requests were submitted from across the country on December 23, 2018, exceeding the set budget of 50 billion baht.

 

The Minister of Finance has also ordered GH Bank to summarize the number of loan applications and propose a plan to extend the budget and duration of the project for consideration by the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) before presenting it to the Cabinet for approval.

 

Mr. Chatchai Sirilai, Managing Director of GH Bank, stated that the bank will begin verifying the qualifications of applicants in order of submission and will announce the names on www.ghbank.co.th, as well as send automated SMS notifications starting December 25, 2018. This will allow those on the list to prepare their documents for loan applications, which can be submitted at branches starting January 2, 2019. Applicants must contact the bank to submit their loan requests within 90 days, with an initial loan budget of 30 billion baht.

 

In the first round of lending, the 30 billion baht will be used to assess how many of those listed will actually apply for loans and whether the total loan requests will reach the full amount. Although the loan requests will be for 1 million baht, the actual loan amounts for properties like houses or condos may be lower, such as 800,000 to 900,000 baht. The bank will summarize the number of applicants and loan amounts in February 2019 to combine any remaining funds with an additional 20 billion baht that will be announced later, as well as consider opening the next phase of the project.

 

It is confirmed that applicants with credit bureau records still have the right to participate in the One Million Houses Project, as the bank will consider their ability to repay and individual borrowing history. Additionally, GH Bank is providing opportunities for low-income individuals or freelancers who may lack sufficient documentation or clear financial records to present evidence of rental payments or down payments for at least 12 months to be considered for income calculations. At the same time, GH Bank is running a financial education program to assist those without financial history, where consistent savings for at least 9 months can be used as proof of income or counted as savings.

 

Preliminary data shows that the region with the highest booking amounts is the Northeast, with 29 billion baht in bookings, followed by the South with 27 billion baht, the Central region with 19 billion baht, Bangkok and its vicinity with 18 billion baht, the East with 16 billion baht, the North with 13 billion baht, and the West with 5 billion baht.

 

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