Jeddah, March 05: More than 600,000 residents who have received loans of more than SR7 billion from the Saudi Credit Bank will benefit from a royal decree, manager of the bank said on Thursday. The bank had given soft loans of more than SR31 billion in the past.
Ibrahim Al-Hinaishil said the bank would allocate from Sunday 141,000 real estate loans, including 15,000 in Jeddah, 28,000 in Riyadh, 10,000 in Dammam, 9,000 in Buraidah, 6,000 in Jazan and 9,000 in Taif.
On return from abroad after a three-month-long medical trip, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah announced a series of benefits for citizens worth more than SR135 billion ($36 billion).
Al-Hinaishil said the loans will be in the accounts of the beneficiaries within a month. He added that a working team and central operations department were created in the bank to implement the royal decree. “Payment will be made according to the priority in loan applications, which started Friday. Branches with 10,000 applications or more may take two weeks to process them,” he said.
Al-Hinaishil said the bank would waive the requirement of a guarantor for granting loans.
“We may mortgage the assets of the project or just suffice with the applicant providing a receipt and testimony that he himself will guarantee the loan. This is done when we have confidence in the applicant and when the loan is not more than SR1 million,” he explained.
Al-Hinaishil said the bank would focus on small and medium enterprises and will give applicants the entire amount if the loan is less than SR1 million, provided they pay 10 percent of the loan upfront and the rest of the amount in installments.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs will also start implementing the royal decree aimed at increasing the members of families entitled to social security from eight to 15. The financial assistance for these families will be deposited in banks Sunday, said Muhammad Al-Oqala, undersecretary at the ministry.
—–Agencies