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author: zhou mengmei

"i still have 1.8 million yuan of commercial loan to pay off for my house. i recently converted the commercial loan into a provident fund loan, saving 300,000 yuan in interest," said he lin (pseudonym), a home buyer from suzhou.

previously, he lin's mortgage was a commercial loan with an interest rate of 3.75%, and the total interest to be repaid within 28 years was about 1.11 million yuan. after it was converted to a provident fund loan, the interest rate was 2.85%, and the total interest to be repaid within 28 years was about 810,000 yuan. this calculation can save about 300,000 yuan in interest costs.

the so-called "commercial to public" business refers to the conversion of the original high-interest commercial housing loan to a lower-interest provident fund loan by home buyers under certain conditions. recently, many netizens have shared their "commercial to public" experiences on social platforms, further reducing the loan costs of existing mortgage loans.

the times weekly reporter noticed that recently, local provident fund centers in many places including xiamen, fujian, qingdao, shandong, wuhan, hubei, meizhou, guangdong, pingdingshan, henan, and heze, shandong have issued relevant policy announcements. borrowers can convert part (or all) of their commercial loans into provident fund loans according to relevant regulations.

"the restart of the commercial-to-public conversion policy in many cities is another major measure to reduce housing costs in the second half of this year. there are many similar policies in various places at present. relevant home buyers need to pay close attention to such policies and realize that if commercial-to-public conversion can be achieved, it is closely related to reducing monthly mortgage payments." yan yuejin, deputy director of the shanghai e-house real estate research institute, told the times weekly reporter.

it is understood that many cities such as beijing, shanghai, guangzhou, chengdu, hangzhou, xi'an, and nanjing have not yet started the "commercial to public" business. among them, guangzhou, hangzhou, nanjing and other cities said in response to residents' inquiries that the utilization rate of local provident funds is high, and there is even a funding gap, and they are temporarily unable to carry out the "commercial to public" business.

housing provident fund centers in many places are very busy with appointments, and it is difficult for home buyers to get a number

"commercial to public" is not a new model. it has been implemented in many cities before and there are signs of restarting it recently.

"it took more than two months to get the first appointment number for the commercial-to-public loan business." as early as april, lin min (pseudonym) from changsha began to consider applying for relevant information for "commercial-to-public". from may 31 to august 17, lin min finally got the appointment number issued by the changsha housing provident fund center. "during this process, i tried to grab the number at the checkpoint, grab it with a mobile phone or tablet, and have family and friends help me grab it. i even thought about asking scalpers to help me..."

times weekly reporter noticed that recently many netizens posted that it is difficult to get an appointment number for the "business-to-public" loan business, and many outlets show "full" for appointment times. however, once the appointment is successful, the processing speed is relatively fast. judging from the processing process shared by many netizens, the time period from loan acceptance to issuance is usually about one month.

judging from the information released by provident fund centers in many places, "commercial to public" is becoming popular among home buyers.

anhui fuyang housing provident fund management center issued a document stating that on august 12, fuyang city fully opened the "commercial to public" loan business, and the center's service hall ushered in a "blowout" peak in the number of cases. as of august 27, in just 15 days, the provident fund window has successfully accepted 1,293 "commercial to public" loan businesses in the city, involving an amount of up to 501 million yuan.

the yuxi housing provident fund management center of yunnan province also issued a document stating that on the first day (july 29) of the implementation of the new yuxi housing provident fund policy in 2024 (including three businesses including "commercial to public"), the municipal housing provident fund center accepted a total of 1,073 businesses, which is 9 times the usual number. among them, the "commercial to public" business was the most popular.

it should be noted that the execution of “commercial to public” loans will be stopped under certain circumstances.

the times weekly reporter noticed that housing provident fund management centers in some regions said that when implementing the "commercial to public" policy, they would dynamically adjust the implementation of the "commercial to public" policy based on the "individual loan rate" (the ratio of the balance of personal housing loans in the housing provident fund to the balance of deposits).

"when the individual loan rate is greater than 85% for three consecutive months, the 'commercial to public' loan business will be completely stopped." on august 20, the "commercial to public" loan policy interpretation issued by the housing provident fund management center of liaocheng city, shandong province mentioned this.

in addition, nanning, guangxi, zhumadian, henan, and changsha, hunan have all issued similar documents, stating that when the individual loan rate reaches a certain proportion, the "commercial to public" reservation and acceptance will be suspended.

yan yuejin told the times weekly reporter that the premise for local housing provident fund management centers to support "commercial to public" is that the individual housing provident fund loan rate cannot be too high and that the local housing provident fund deposit balance is relatively sufficient. currently, many places support "commercial to public", which actually shows that the financial situation of local housing provident fund centers is relatively good.

more cities may support “commercial to public”

converting commercial loans into provident fund loans can greatly reduce the burden on borrowers.

according to calculations by the times weekly reporter, if a 1 million yuan commercial housing loan is replaced by a housing fund loan of the same amount, under the equal principal and interest repayment model, the repayment period is 25 years, and the commercial loan is calculated at the lpr loan interest rate of 3.85% for more than five years, the monthly repayment is 5,196 yuan; according to the housing fund loan method, the monthly repayment is 4,464 yuan, a difference of 732 yuan. over 25 years, the total interest difference between the two loan methods is 159,500 yuan.

"(commercial to public) saves hundreds of thousands of real money in interest, and the burden is reduced a lot at once", "after completing the commercial to public conversion, the monthly payment is greatly reduced, and i feel relaxed." many netizens shared their joy.

since the second quarter of this year, the number of cities supporting "commercial to public" has increased significantly. as of august 28, many cities including xinyang city, henan province, dingzhou city, hebei province, liaocheng city, shandong province, changchun city, jilin province, and meizhou city, guangdong province have announced the opening of "commercial to public" services in the past week.

according to statistics from the china index academy, more than 30 cities including qingdao and changchun have successively implemented and optimized the "commercial to public" business this year. according to incomplete statistics from the times weekly reporter, as of august 28, more than 60 cities across the country have launched the "commercial to public" business. among the cities that currently support "commercial to public", first-, second-, third- and fourth-tier cities are all covered. among the first-tier cities, there is shenzhen, and the second-tier cities include xiamen, wuhan, suzhou, chongqing, etc., and the third- and fourth-tier cities include taiyuan, taizhou, anshan, putian, zhuzhou, rizhao, yinchuan, etc.

"against the backdrop of constant calls for lowering interest rates on existing mortgage loans, it is expected that more cities will join the ranks of commercial-to-public conversions in the future, further providing a better financial environment for housing consumers." yan yuejin told the times weekly reporter that the policies of many places supporting commercial-to-public conversions further illustrate that the provident fund centers in various places are implementing the orientation of reducing burdens and facilitating the people, which has a positive effect on reducing interest rates on existing mortgage loans, and will also help further promote the utilization of provident fund resources.

at the same time, the entry threshold for "commercial to public" in some cities is also being relaxed.

the wuhan housing provident fund management center said that starting from september 1 this year, wuhan will optimize the provident fund use policy for flexible employment personnel. flexible employment personnel can use provident fund loans to purchase their first or second home in wuhan, or to replace personal housing commercial loans that have been processed and not yet settled.

some cities also support employees who have made housing provident fund deposits in other places to apply for "commercial to public" loans. on august 28, the xinyang housing provident fund management center issued a document stating that employees who have made housing provident fund deposits in full on a monthly basis for six months or more in cities other than xinyang can apply for "commercial to public" loans for their homes in xinyang.

however, it should be noted that currently, when applying for "commercial to public", different cities have certain differences in access conditions, loan amounts, processing methods, etc. borrowers need to prepare materials and apply according to the relevant policies of the local provident fund center.

the times weekly reporter noticed that currently, loan applicants in various places are mostly limited to employed workers who normally pay into the housing provident fund. however, some cities stipulate that loan replacement is limited to pure commercial loans, and some cities stipulate that the borrower's family is applying for a provident fund loan for the first time.

currently, most cities simultaneously support two "commercial to public" processing modes, namely "loan transfer with mortgage (second-priority mortgage)" and "loan transfer after settlement".

among them, in the "settlement and loan transfer" model, employees who make contributions need to raise funds by themselves to settle the original commercial loan before they can apply for a provident fund loan; "mortgage loan transfer (second priority mortgage)" does not require self-raised funds, but is limited to banks, which need to be on the list of the provident fund center's entrusted processing, and also need to obtain the consent of the original commercial loan bank.