It’s not as easy as back home! The following information is provided as a
guide to arranging
a mortgage in Spain. We hope you find it useful. You can of
course go direct to a bank and arrange a mortgage yourself but you need to be
aware that, in a nutshell, “it’s just not as easy as back home”.
In the UK & Ireland there are a few dozen banks & building societies, in Spain
there are nearly a thousand. The UK & Ireland has a mature, well regulated
mortgage market; there’s lots of competition, it’s easy to get information, and
there’s a huge range of different types of mortgage. In Spain it couldn’t be more
different! You’ll find it hard to get written information and that most banks only
offer standard repayment mortgages, you will be told ‘yes’ only to find it all
seems to take an age and then stops!
If you want to be sure you’ve got the best mortgage for your particular
circumstances then you have to do a lot of research, many banks are expensive
so you have to search the market, for this reason alone it can be worth talking
with a good mortgage adviser. There is also the added complication of the very
different culture and language, if you are not used to the ‘Mediterranean way of
doing business’ and not fluent in Spanish it can get very frustrating., So whether
deciding on a bank, submitting the initial application or in what happens
afterwards between application and completion it really is not as easy as back
home! There are many different variations of mortgages available and different
banks have different criteria. It is true that Mortgage lenders are interested in
finding good customers, however what constitutes a good customer will vary
from bank to bank. The bottom line is that a good customer is one who enters
into an arrangement to make monthly payments on their mortgage and keeps
up those monthly repayments for the full term of the mortgage without missing
any payments. Of course you have a free choice and this guide is designed to
provide you with useful information about arranging a mortgage in Spain.
Should you decide to use an Independent Adviser then hopefully you will
consider Overseas Living Group.
So please remember when searching for a Spanish Mortgage:
1. An initial broad ‘yes’ from a bank in Spain often doesn’t
mean ‘yes’. It
must be tested
2. Language and culture are barriers, even when people in the
bank seem
to speak good English
3. The culture is to be helpful which often means the bank
saying ‘yes it will
be fine’, they accept your
application and then you hear nothing until weeks
or months later when the answer becomes ‘no’
4. Very little information is available in writing from banks
and they often
change criteria during the
application process
5. Local bank managers are unlikely to have authority to approve
many
types of mortgages - it will need to go to
head office
6. When applications proceed to head office “changes to
conditions” can
often occur
7. Some banks will use UK credit reference agencies to verify
your credit
rating and others will not – these
checks will also reveal other loans, mortgages and
credit cards
8. Some banks will lend on valuation, some take purchase price
into
account as well
9. There are 6 main bases for interest rates in Spain, including
4 different
Euribor rates so Euribor + 1% doesn’t
mean one rate
10. It is unfortunately not uncommon for banks, lawyers and some
brokers to
add charges very late in the process so
when you are ready to complete at the notary you
have to make a decision, if you want to argue at that late
point, you could risk loosing the sale
11. There are a number of people involved in the whole process
including
the bank, your lawyer, the vendors
lawyer, the estate agent, the developer, the
Notary, the valuation company and the Gestoria – they all need
managing and chasing to achieve a timely completion
12. Things in Spain are never black & white but are various
shades of grey!
If you have any questions or would like a
mortgage quote we will be pleased to help. Please contact us using the following
form Spanish
Mortgages Enquiry
For Spanish mortgages
contact Olg mortgage specialists. For Information on a mortgage in Spain click
the following link: Spanish Mortgages Spain100 % Mortgage rates from just 3.9%
