RBS gives mortgage holiday to coronavirus-affected homeowners

Royal Bank of Scotland will suspend mortgage payments for people impacted by coronavirus.

The partly state-owned banking giant announced the three-month “payment holiday” as part of a raft of measures to help customers affected by the outbreak.

RBS will also allow customers to apply for increased temporary credit card limits and withdraw up to £500 a day from ATMs to assist in them in managing coronavirus-related disruption.

In addition, the Edinburgh-based bank will waive early closure charges for savers and offer refunds on credit card cash advance fees so affected customers can access money without penalty.

It comes after Italy announced it would suspend all mortgage payments and offer debt holidays to small businesses and families over the coronavirus.

The country has effectively gone into lockdown with emergency economic and social measures announced, including travel restrictions and a ban on public gatherings.

Italy is the worst-affected country in the world outside of China, where the virus originated, with infection rates jumping by 24% between Sunday and Monday to more than 9000, with nearly 500 deaths.

The Royal Bank of Scotland group, which owns RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank, says it is “monitoring the potential impact of coronavirus across all our customers to ensure we can support them appropriately through any period of disruption”.

On Monday, NatWest announced £5bn in support for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) across the UK to help deal with the outbreak.

It will also offer SMEs loan repayment holidays and temporary emergency loans with no fees.