Home energy improvement loan

You can finance roof, wall and floor insulation, insulating glass, low-temperature heating, ground heat/cold storage, heat-recovery systems, solar panels or solar thermal collectors, hybrid heat pumps and a home battery. Plug-and-play batteries are excluded. The work must demonstrably reduce energy demand or CO₂ emissions, generate renewable energy or reduce or change the home's use of natural gas for heating.

Borrow €2,500–€25,000 including VAT, up to the actual eligible costs after deducting subsidies received or expected from others. Home batteries have a separate €5,000 limit. SVn sets the final amount after its financial assessment.

The term is ten years for loans up to €7,499 and fifteen years from €7,500. SVn fixes the interest rate when you apply to it, for the whole term. You pay a monthly instalment covering interest and repayment; interest is calculated on the outstanding debt. There is no closing fee, but you pay any independent financial adviser yourself. Late payments incur statutory interest and may also incur administration or collection costs.

SVn keeps the money in a building account rather than paying the whole loan into your bank account. Submit invoices using its claim forms: SVn pays the contractor directly, or reimburses an invoice you have already paid after approving your proof of payment. You pay any invoice amount above the account's remaining balance yourself; you cannot deposit your own money into it. Special bank-transfer costs can be charged to you.

The building account normally lasts twelve months from the start of the loan; you can request one extension of up to twelve months. It closes earlier when all money is drawn or the work is complete, and always closes after twenty-four months. SVn may close it after six months without transactions. Any unused money at closure reduces your loan. Interest credited on the account for up to twelve months is offset against your instalments.

You must still repay the loan if your contractor fails to meet your agreement. You may repay early without a fee, with a minimum extra repayment of €250. SVn adjusts the instalment after a partial extra repayment; if it falls below €35, SVn may shorten the term instead.

SVn can demand immediate repayment if you remain in default after a formal notice when an instalment is at least two months overdue; if you leave your permanent residence in the Netherlands or are reasonably expected to do so within a few months; if you die and SVn has good reason to expect that the obligations will not be met; or if you enter bankruptcy or the statutory debt-restructuring scheme for individuals. It can also demand repayment if you deliberately supplied false information that would have changed its lending decision, including not using the loan fully for the agreed measures.