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The Senate approved on Tuesday (12) a bill that temporarily suspends payments owed by students to the Student Financing Fund (Fies). The text, modified in the Senate, will return to the Chamber of Deputies.
The bill 1.079 / 2020, of the deputy Denis Bezerra (PSB-CE), received a favorable opinion from Dário Berger (MDB-SC), rapporteur of the matter in the Senate. Dário offered a substitute in which he appreciates the 10 amendments presented to the project. In turn, PL 1,061 / 2020, by senator Alessandro Vieira (Cidadania-SE), which was being processed together with the Denis Bezerra project, was considered damaged.
Fies finances undergraduate courses for students of private institutions of higher education. The project approved this Tuesday modifies Law 10,260 of 2001, which created the fund, to allow students who are up-to-date with financing installments or with installments overdue by a maximum of 180 days, to suspend payments during the period of state of public calamity.
This period can be extended for an equal period, depending on the decision of the Executive Power.
Doctors
The bill also includes doctors, nurses, and other health professionals with six months of work caring for people infected with covid-19, among the categories that can be reimbursed in Fies fees. According to the text, Fies may cancel 1% of the consolidated debit balance monthly, including the interest owed in the period and regardless of the date of contracting the financing. Fies can also discount up to 50% of the monthly amount due to Fies by these professionals.
Currently, the first grant is awarded to a doctor who is part of an officially registered family health or military medical team of the Armed Forces, who works in areas and regions with scarcity and difficulties in retaining this professional, and to a teacher with a title in teaching and effective practice. in the public basic education network with a minimum of 20 hours per week. The second benefit is granted only to physicians.
Different contracts
Due to the particularities of the different types of contract, the text makes some adaptations to contemplate them all with the suspension. Therefore, for contracts signed through 2017, interest payments, repayment of the balance due, refinanced installments of old debts under the Fies, and penalties for late payments during periods of use, the grace period is suspended for two months. and amortization of financing.
As for the contracts signed from 2018, the project establishes that students will be exempt from temporarily paying fines to banks for late payments, amortization of the outstanding balance and installment installments. Through Plenary modification, in contracts signed from 2018 it is allowed the suspension of the contract by the financier if the inscription is not effective.
Regarding financing based on the Fies Program (P-Fies), which does not have pre-established rules, which are being negotiated by students, university sponsors and banks, the student can count on the suspension of payments, for 60 days, renewable for an equal period. , the amortization of the debtor balance, any interest incurred, fees derived from the renegotiation of contracts and fines possibly owed by the beneficiary students for delay.
Negative record
In all suspension of payment situations, the student cannot enroll in non-compliant registrations and will not be considered to be in breach of any obligation with Fies.
To obtain the suspension, the student must express an interest to the bank in which he has the financing, through the existing service channels for this purpose. Due to social isolation, the project allows contractual adjustments to be made through the electronic signature, in addition to the bank branch.
Delivery
The text revokes the current payment plan for old debts with Fies and creates a new one, with similar rules. In the event of full registration until December 31, 2020, there will be a 100% reduction in late payment charges. In the current rule, the reduction is 50%.
The installments made in 145 or 175 monthly installments will receive a reduction of 40% and 25%, respectively. Payments start from January 2021.
In these fees, the registration fee will be the first monthly fee to be paid. As the installation starts from scratch, unpaid fees may be included up to the date of publication of the future law.
The plenary amendment accepted by the rapporteur determines thatsuspended obligations must be paid “diluted in the remaining installments”, without charging interest or fines.
Guarantee Fund
The project also raises the Union’s participation limit in the Fies Guarantee Fund (FG-Fies) from the current R $ 3 billion to R $ 4.5 billion. The guarantee fund bears part of the risks of Fies educational credit operations and is specifically aimed at low-income students. Sponsors of educational institutions that join the program must also allocate resources in the fund.
With information from Agência Câmara
Agência Senado (Authorized reproduction subject to an appointment by Agência Senado)
