- I am perhaps a classic example. A slightly overconfident 50-year-old who wants to make things happen. It was calculated, but I got a bit too eager," says Sindre Røstad before explaining how he got into financial trouble - and how he regained control.
The problem started when he was overly impatient to get started on a renovation project.
The plan was to renovate the house. In addition, he wanted to build on an apartment adjacent to the home he and his wife own at Nesodden outside Oslo.
"I knew we had assets, but due to the fact that my debt was more than five times my income, I was turned down by all the banks I approached. So I solved it with a consumer loan," says the 51-year-old.
With a total of 10 million kroner in loans, he realised that in 2019 he had to take action.
In a newspaper article, he had seen that former volleyball star Bjørn Maaseide had started a special bank. Perhaps Kraft Bank could be the solution?
It was a complete success.
- "I just have to praise the job the senior advisor at Kraft Bank did for me. He saw me and the whole project, not just the numbers," Røstad says today.
Kraft Bank went deeper into the matter than Røstad had experienced before and had faith that he could get the financial difficulties under control.
The bank became a nice stopover to regain control of personal finances.
- They took a second mortgage, so I didn't have to move the mortgage and got to keep the favourable interest rate I had on it. They also gave me a grace period, given that this was a short-term interim solution until I could sell the apartment I was renovating," says Røstad.
Kraft Bank currently charges between 6-8 percent interest, and the plan all along was to return to regular banking as soon as he was financially fit to do so.
- It looks better to come to a regular bank when you have one loan and not a lot of small loans in the hustle and bustle. The goal with Kraft Bank was always that it was an intermediate solution. I wanted to return to a regular bank as soon as possible," says Røstad.
It's music to the ears of Arne Turlid, Senior Advisor at Kraft Bank.
- We don't want customers to stay with us. We want them to go back to their regular bank as soon as possible. There are many customers who contact us, and I ask them to contact their regular bank first. If they don't get help there, they have to come back to us," says Turlid, who adds that Kraft Bank does not offer fixed interest rates, but has an interest rate guarantee.
- If we had a fixed interest rate, customers would have had to stay with us longer. With an interest rate guarantee, they can terminate their customer relationship with Kraft Bank when they are financially healthy. It costs them nothing extra whether it takes three months or three years," says Turlid.
Written by Schibsted Partnerstudio for Kraft Bank.
