Families which are expecting babies in July will not forfeit eligibility for the baby expecting support, Minister of State Katalin Novák stressed in connection with the new decree with which the government has further facilitated the process of applying for the new benefit available from1 July.

In an interview given to the public service media in Berlin, Mrs Novák said pursuant to the decree, the support is available in respect of babies born not after the conclusion of the relevant contract, but after the submission of the application, and “additionally, in  the case of children born in July, it is not a problem if the application is submitted after the birth of the baby”.

“We are ready for the problem-free launch of this form of support from 1 July,” she added, pointing out that the relevant certificates are already available in the government offices.

The Minister of State highlighted that from 1 July four elements of the family protection action plan will start: in addition to the baby expecting support, the car purchase support of large families, the preferential loan attached to the family housing benefit ‘csok’ and the cancellation of a part of the mortgage debts of families.

Pursuant to the government decree published in Magyar Közlöny, those families may also apply for the baby expecting support who previously had credit debts in arrears, but repaid them minimum one year before the submission of the application.

The preferential loan of HUF 10 million is available to married couples who have no recorded debt in the central credit information system. However, the central credit information system also contains the data of former credit defaulters who have since repaid their debts, and were as a consequence not previously eligible for the baby expecting support.

The most recent amendment enables former credit defaulters to apply for the baby expecting support if they settled their debts minimum one year before the submission of the application.

The government decree released on Wednesday makes it clear that the support is also available in respect of children born in July. According to this, the parents of children born after 1 July may submit their applications up to 31 July, and simultaneously with the submission of their requests, the repayment of the baby expecting support as a loan is “suspended” with immediate effect.

Another new element is that if the loan application for the baby expecting support is submitted during pregnancy (after the 12th week), couples may immediately request the suspension of repayment. According to the original rule, parents would only have been allowed to do so simultaneously with the conclusion of the loan contract. This means that parents will not be required to make amortisation payments retroactive to the period extending to the conclusion of the contract either.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced in his state of the nation address in February that the government would launch a seven-point family protection action plan. As part of this, they will introduce a child support arrangement for young married couples (under the institutional name ‘baby expecting support’), the personal income tax exemption of women with minimum four children and the child care allowance for grandparents, will extend the housing programme, there will be changes in the cancellation of a part of the mortgage debts of families, a preferential car purchase programme will be launched for large families, and new creche places will be created.

From July 1 married couples will be eligible to apply for the interest-free, any-purpose baby expecting support of the maximum amount of HUF 10 million where the women are aged between 18 and 40 years and at least one of the spouses has had continuous social insurance coverage for at least three years. The maximum amount of the monthly amortisation instalment may be HUF 50,000. Repayment is suspended for a period of three years already upon the arrival of the first child, it is suspended for another three years upon the birth of the second child and thirty per cent of the outstanding debt is cancelled, and upon the birth of a third child the entire remaining debt is cancelled.

(MTI)