Open this photo in gallery A customer uses an ATM machine at a Vancity branch on May 12, 2007. Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail

Vancity is temporarily cutting credit card interest rates to zero and deferring minimum payments for those facing financial difficulty as a result of COVID-19.

The credit union says personal and business credit card holders, who need to defer a payment due to the pandemic, will be offered deferrals of up to six months at a zero-per-cent interest rate.

The move by Vancity comes after several of the large Canadian banks lowered their interest rates on their credit cards for those in financial hardship due to the pandemic.

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Vancity says in addition to temporarily dropping credit-card interest rates to zero, it’s working with its members affected by COVID-19 to defer loans, such as mortgages, for up to six months.

It says it has approved 97 per cent of the 4,000 loan deferral requests it has processed.

Vancity is Canada’s largest community credit union.

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