Above: Housing Minister Kenneth Russell (BIS Photo)

The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation is looking to reconstruct mortgage payments to count toward paying off the principal in a bid to reduce its 40 percent delinquency rate.

“[The BMC is] still having about a 40 percent delinquency and they’re working to send some letters out to persons … to try to get them to come in and talk to them and work out ways for them to pay their mortgage,” said Housing Minister Kenneth Russell. “Apart from problems that were developed over the years, we are still working on the funding we are getting from government to build houses with to be shared with the Mortgage Corporation to keep them going.”

Russell said delinquent homeowners in the Bahamas should come in and reconstruct their mortgages.

“Right now, if you pay something on your mortgage, it means nothing because the money what you didn’t pay keeps on growing and the interest keeps on growing. But if you come in and change the terms of your payment, then the mortgage keeps on reducing.”

— Bahamas Information Service