Colombia Bank Earthquake Relief: 12-Month Grace Periods

Quick answer: Colombia bank earthquake relief now totals COP 1.1 trillion (about $355 million), with member banks offering grace periods of up to 12 months, frozen collections, and protected credit histories to up to roughly 2.8 million eligible borrowers in Caldas, Chocó, Quindío, Risaralda, and Valle del Cauca — Antioquia and Medellín are not on that list. To get it, call your own bank directly and ask about the Asobancaria relief measures by name; there’s no central government portal.

This account draws on reporting from El Colombiano, El Heraldo, Semana, Forbes Colombia, El País Cali, La República, El Universal, El Tiempo, Infobae, and Vanguardia, cross-checked against UNGRD’s daily casualty updates, the Servicio Geológico Colombiano, and the Superintendencia Financiera’s own published TRM — financial and disaster-response figures checked against the relevant regulators directly, not just news aggregation.

Colombia’s banks have put a number on their earthquake relief effort: COP 1.1 trillion (about $355 million at the August 19, 2026 TRM of $3,098.79 COP/USD). The TRM is calculated and certified daily by the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia; Spanish-language coverage reports this figure as “$1,1 billones” — Spanish “billón” equals an English trillion, not a billion, so the headline number holds.

El Colombiano reported the figure on August 19, confirming the scale of a relief package Asobancaria — Colombia’s banking association — first announced a week earlier. For anyone with a Colombian mortgage, car loan, or business credit in the earthquake zone, including foreign residents, this is the plan to know. The same earthquake has also been rattling the peso — see our coverage of the exchange rate’s seven-year low in July for the broader currency picture.

What the Colombia bank earthquake relief package includes

On August 12, Asobancaria said member banks would offer grace periods of up to 12 months to the most severely affected borrowers, alongside a broader package of measures. According to Semana, Forbes Colombia, and El Tiempo, the package includes:

• Grace periods of up to 12 months on loan payments for the hardest-hit borrowers
• Redefined terms, including extended deadlines and adjusted repayment schedules
• Special interest treatment, including forgiveness in some cases
• Protected credit histories — missed payments during the relief window shouldn’t show up as delinquencies on borrowers’ credit reports
• Suspended legal and pre-legal collection actions against affected borrowers
• Application of borrowers’ existing bank insurance policies, where coverage applies to earthquake-related damage

Asobancaria estimates roughly 2.8 million users in the affected zones could qualify, though there’s no single uniform scheme — each bank evaluates cases individually against its own internal policy, according to El País Cali. That means terms can vary meaningfully from one entity to the next.

Where relief applies

If you’re based in Medellín, the short version comes first: Antioquia isn’t on the list. As we covered when the quake first hit, Medellín sits well outside the epicenter. José María Córdova airport was suspended for several hours on August 10 for a precautionary structural check, reopened the same day, and — per Infobae’s August 18 airport-recovery roundup — was still operating normally with no reported earthquake damage as of that date. This relief package is aimed at borrowers affected in five specific departments, not at Medellín-based expats generally. In practice, that means banks are asking for proof that your mortgage, vehicle loan, or business credit is tied to an address or property in one of them:

• Caldas
• Chocó
• Quindío
• Risaralda
• Valle del Cauca

These are the departments hit hardest by the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that struck on August 10, centered near San José del Palmar in Chocó. It’s the strongest earthquake to hit Colombia since the magnitude-8.2 El Charco (Nariño) quake in 1979, according to Servicio Geológico Colombiano data reported by Vanguardia; every quake in between — including 1992’s Murindó, Antioquia event and a 2004 Pacific Ocean quake, both magnitude 7.2 — was weaker.

By UNGRD’s August 19 balance (cutoff 6:30 a.m.), reported by El Tiempo, the quake has killed 312 people and left 290 missing. The injured count varies by outlet as figures are still being consolidated — 4,380 per that same August 19 balance, versus 4,611 in Infobae’s August 18 tally — so treat any number in this story, including that one, as a snapshot rather than a final count.

How to actually get the relief

There’s no central government portal for this — access runs entirely through your own bank. Per La República’s breakdown, borrowers should contact their financial entity directly, explain how they were affected, and ask specifically about:

1. Grace periods or a modified payment schedule
2. Interest treatment or forgiveness on the affected obligation
3. Credit history protection during the relief window
4. Suspension of any collection process already underway

If you bank with an entity that has a branch or call center in one of the five departments, expect to provide proof of address or property tied to the affected zone — banks are evaluating case by case, not granting relief automatically.

Tax and customs relief too

Separately, the DIAN (Colombia’s tax and customs authority) suspended tax, customs, and foreign-exchange actions from August 13–25 at its branch offices in Pereira, Armenia, Manizales, Tuluá, Palmira, Popayán, Quibdó, Buenaventura, and Cali — useful context if you also have pending tax or customs business tied to those cities, or if you’re separately tracking Colombia’s 2026 tax reform proposals.

Why this matters beyond the affected zone

President Abelardo de la Espriella publicly thanked Asobancaria for the package on August 19 — but this wasn’t a purely private-sector gesture the government applauded from the sidelines. El Tiempo reports the package was jointly negotiated between the De la Espriella government and Asobancaria, coordinated with the national disaster declaration and the government’s own reconstruction plan. For readers tracking Colombia’s broader economic picture, this sits alongside the country’s currently red-hot inflation, which hit Medellín hardest of any city in July. It also sits next to Banco de la República’s dollar-purchase program aimed at the same peso volatility — together, a signal of how seriously both the financial sector and the government are treating the earthquake’s economic fallout, on top of the human one.

Quick FAQ

Does this apply if I live in Medellín? The relief targets borrowers affected in Caldas, Chocó, Quindío, Risaralda, or Valle del Cauca — Antioquia isn’t one of them. In practice, that means banks are asking for proof your mortgage, vehicle loan, or business credit is tied to an address or property in one of those five departments, evaluated case by case.

Is there a deadline to request relief, or does interest keep accruing during a grace period? None of the reporting on this package specifies a cutoff date for requesting relief — unlike the DIAN’s tax and customs suspension, which runs a fixed window of August 13–25, no bank-side application deadline has been announced. On interest, the package includes “special interest treatment, including forgiveness in some cases,” but whether that means interest stops accruing during a standard grace period depends on the bank and the specific case — ask directly when you call.

How do I apply? There’s no government portal. Call your own bank, explain how you were affected, and ask specifically about grace periods, interest treatment, credit history protection, and suspending any collection process already underway.

The bottom line

If you or someone you know holds a mortgage, vehicle loan, or business credit line tied to Caldas, Chocó, Quindío, Risaralda, or Valle del Cauca, the move for getting Colombia bank earthquake relief is simple: call your bank now and ask about the Asobancaria relief measures by name. Terms, documentation, and approval aren’t automatic or uniform, and — like every peso figure in this story — the COP 1.1 trillion headline number, the exchange rate used to translate it, and the casualty count are all snapshots as of August 19, 2026, not fixed facts. Check with your own bank and Asobancaria directly before assuming a specific term applies to your case.