Payment deferral (odklad splátek)
A temporary suspension or reduction of mortgage payments agreed with the bank, usually for a few months after a job loss, an illness or the start of parental leave. There is no general legal right to it: it depends on the contract and on the bank agreeing, and the blanket moratorium of 2020 was an exception. Interest keeps running during the deferral, so afterwards either the payment rises or the term is extended.
Example
A CZK 4,000,000 mortgage over 25 years at 5.00 % has a payment of CZK 23,384, of which about CZK 16,700 is interest in the first month. If only the principal is deferred, the client pays interest alone, roughly CZK 6,700 less. A full deferral usually adds the unpaid interest to the debt, so the total cost rises.
In practice
Ask before you miss a payment. Once you are in arrears, the bank reports the debt to the credit register and takes a much harder line. Expect to prove the reason (notice of dismissal, sick note); the deferral is then recorded in an amendment (dodatek) to the contract. Read the amendment for any change to the rate or a fee for the change. Simply stopping payments in the belief that “a deferral will come automatically” is how arrears start.
How it differs
A deferral is an agreed change to the repayment schedule. Arrears (prodlení) are non-payment without agreement: the bank charges default interest on them, and they can end in acceleration of the loan. Payment protection insurance pays the instalments for you, while a deferral only postpones them.
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