Starting from Wednesday (24 March 2010) BIGBANK began to issue innovative consumer loans, which automatically include unemployment insurance, which compensates the loan payments of a credit receiver for one year, should the credit receiver become unemployed.
According to the Member of the Management Board of BIGBANK, Kaido Saar, the product offered under the name Safety Loan is in its essence an ordinary consumer loan, the purpose of which is not limited, but the insurance cover added to the loan gives an additional sense of security to the credit receiver that when becoming unemployed, the loan will not create financial difficulties. "In a sense it is a banking product of a new generation, in which additional values and a greater sense of security for both the credit receiver and the credit provider has been created by combining several financial services," Saar noted.
In case of undesired unemployment, for example due to redundancy or temporary incapacity for work, of a receiver of BIGBANK's Safety Loan, ERGO insurance shall compensate his/her loan payments in the extent of up to 12 months. In case the credit receiver dies, the insurance company shall fully compensate the outstanding loan amount, unpaid by the moment of death. When becoming unemployed several times, the maximum compensated period of loan payments is 24 months. The insurance period depends on the maturity of the loan contract of the credit receiver, but the insurace shall not cover a longer period than 5 years.
The loan amounts of Safety Loans begin from 4000 kroons and the usual BIGBANK interest, which is fixed and does not depend on changes in Euribor or other base rates, is applied to the loan. Unemployment insurance cover does not bring along any additional expenses for the client.
BIGBANK AS is a specialised credit institution based on Estonian capital, which has branches in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania and provides its services on cross-border basis also in Austria and Germany. As of the end of 2009, BIGBANK employed 394 people and the bank had a total of 28 offices. BIGBANK's bonds are listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange.
