Julio Gutierrez
Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday February 12, 2023, p. 14
The rise in the reference rate by Banco de México (BdeM) reduces the space for consumers to acquire a new loan and not remain over-indebted. However, mortgages or automobiles are the financing that for a few months have already discounted the increase in interest, say specialists in the financial sector.
In the other case, loans such as payroll, personal or even credit cards will now be more expensive for consumers, because their rate is variable and subject to changes made by the central bank, they commented.
On February 9, the Bank of Mexico announced the first monetary policy decision of the year, in which it increased the reference rate by half a percentage point, which went from 10.5 to 11 percent.
This is the highest rate since the central bank used monetary policy as a measure to contain inflation, an indicator that at the end of January stood at 7.91 percent, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). ).
James Salazar, CIBanco’s deputy director of analysis, mentioned that it is still a good time to acquire a bank loan according to the client’s needs, since those that are destined to the acquisition of durable consumer goods have avoided the high interest rates.
Is it still a good time to ask for a mortgage loan or a car loan? Yes, but maybe it’s not a good time to apply for a personal or payroll loan, even use credit cards, so it depends on what the debtor thinks
mentioned the manager.
He specified that in recent months “several of these instruments have already discounted the rate increase, but it is very probable that the expectation that was held a few weeks ago will fall short of how the rate will be before the decision of the central bank.
It is a good time for some loans, but the opportunity is closing, because compared to last year the financial cost has risen and more now that we thought that we were barely recovering from what happened last year
Salazar pointed out.
The Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM) said a few weeks ago that credit institutions have made an effort so that the interest rates of new loans do not grow above the increase in the reference rate of the central bank.
Thus, the average rate of a credit card is located at a level of 37.27 percent; that of personal loans at 47 percent and that of payroll financing at 27.69 percent.
On the other hand, in the segment of car loans the average rate is 14.27 percent and that of mortgages is 9.84 percent.
Although the central bank’s measure took analysts by surprise, who expected an increase of a quarter of a percentage point, it is not ruled out that the BdeM will make more increases, albeit to a lesser extent, a fact that could cause new consumer loans have higher rates.
