Let us remember that, in this type of credit, each year the amount of the debt and the borrower’s monthly payments are adjusted depending on the annual increase in the minimum wage or the UMA (whichever is lower). To dimension this effect, let us think of a borrower who owed a million pesos to Infonavit in 2021 and who, as of February of this year, saw his debt increase by an additional 49,900 pesos.
Without a doubt, I applaud this measure, since it is sensible, responsible, sensible and protects the assets of almost four million beneficiaries. However, it is important to raise our voices about another aspect that continues to affect the working class of our country, whom the institute itself considers the true owners of Infonavit.
The Cofinavit is a product originally devised by Infonavit so that beneficiaries could use the Balance of their Housing Subaccount that they have established in accordance with the Retirement Savings System Law and the Social Security Law.
These are resources owned by workers provided by employers bimonthly over time. Such resources that belong to the beneficiaries and that are managed by Infonavit, should be available to them without their use being conditioned to the contracting of an additional service or product, as is the case of the credit component in the product of Cofinavit.
In essence, that is what is happening, because in order to make use of these resources, the worker is obliged to contract a loan that today has an interest rate of 10.45%, that is, well above the offer of other credit institutions. (whose rates range from 8.50 to 9.25%), which contravenes the provisions of article 3 of the Infonavit Law, which establishes that the credit granted by the institute must be cheap.
The forced contracting of a mortgage loan in much more onerous conditions than what the market offers for long-term mortgage loans generates a significant impairment to the assets of the beneficiaries because it forces them to pay higher interest rates than they should actually pay. to pay.
From my point of view, we are facing a coercive and unfair practice for rights holders inherited from past administrations.