Hi does anyone know which bank in spain is offering the best mortgage rate at this moment in time? And
which one is the most helpful, this would help people who are coming over to live. I am sure some of you
have been dealing with them for a long time, and the info would be helpful kind regards

A lot of places offer Euribor +X%, or an introductory deal reverting to that after a year or two.  If you’re used to the UK where it’s normal to shop around and switch, remember that the penalties for early repayment can be high in Spain. If you’re likely to stick with the deal you choose now for the full term, it may not pay to choose an attractive promotion in the first 12 or 24 months if the remainder is less competitive. 

As for choice of banks, I have nothing but praise for my small provincial Caja. In my case it’s Caja de Granada, but the principle of choosing local seems a good one to me. My bank manager knows my village, our mayor and all the other local notables, and he helped during the final stages of the restoration on my house by e-mailing and calling me in the UK (when I couldn’t always get hold of my builder!) Maybe I was lucky, but I think you’ll have more chance of that kind of service with a local Caja than with the big banking corporations.

It really is an impossible question to answer - the banks change their offer and policies on how much and to whom they will lend weekly. For instance we now have one bank that will not loan to self employed as they currently have a high amount of mortgages in arrears from their self employed customers.

Dont take it for granted that the best deals are the UK banks in Spain either - in our experience they have some of the worst deals on offer and 1 Building Society in particular is useless - the staff dont speak Spanish or understand the Spanish laws so everything has to go to Madrid and takes ages to process.

Yes I agree with the last post local Cajas can be a good bet. You need to take time and visit a few branches of different Cajas to see whats on offer. The early termination penalty can be negotiated (or dont terminate just leave a few thousand to pay and avoid the penalty) also enquire if the seller whether private or builder has a mortgage which can be subrogated as this will save you admin setup charges. Also put as much as you can afford on deposit with the bank (even if you move it later on) they like clients with money!

Back to research and negotiation!!

thanks for the reply guys, have had a bank account in spain for around 4 years with solbank
will see what they have to offer? kind regards 😊

Hi,
I work for a company called Rossbank ( http://www.rossbank.com ) we offer solutions to buying property overseas.

  Rossbank offers the facility to use the property overseas for security rather than your property in Ireland/UK

  There may be tax advantages in each country to reposition the debt on the property overseas

  Interest only option offered for the full term of the loan

  Offer in principal offered within 48hrs

  We enlisted the help of professional local valuators, who will give a detailed valuation to make sure you are not         paying over the odds and will also give an idea of rental income

Also enlisted the help of DLA Piper the 2nd largest Real Estate law firm in the world. They will guide you through the whole process from start to finish. All their dealings with you will be in English, they will also there to give you all the advice you need on the complicated taxation laws. They can act on your behalf on all the issues that may arise, meaning you don?t have to fly backwards and forwards to deal with any problems that may happen

We have also sourced excellent life and property insurances from innovative companies like ourselves.
 
Rossbank offers a complete end to end service, from the moment you call until you have the keys of your new property in your hand.

I hope this may be of help to some people,

Kind regards

Paul Herbert
Mortgage Advisor

? ?Lo Call 1890 51 54 57
? ?Ireland 00353 (0) 21 4316 378
?  ?Ireland 00353 (0) 21 4839 134
? ? http://www.rossbank.ie
?  ?Paul.Herbert @rossbank.com

It seems that the banks are really starting to tighten up on lending now.  Friends of ours are trying to buy a house and are having a lot of trouble securing a mortgage.  Part of the problem I was told is that they aren’t Spanish citizens although he is an EU citizen and works for the European Space Agency.  They are supposed to have an arrangement with the banks that ensure that their employees are guaranteed consideration for mortgages however this doesn’t seem to be happening.  They have also stopped selling 100% mortgages, now you have to provide at least 20% of the purchase price + fees, etc.

Yes I would agree with Klugy. We are finding the banks have really tightened up and are asking for a lot more papers (payslips, bank statements, credit reports etc) Apparently many people (foreigners) are starting to default and some mortgages have been scams so the banks are learning fast about fraud!!

For people with regular income and a good credit record you should not have a problem although you may get as big an offer as you want if the bank dont know you. Also being introduced by someone they do know will help.

Beware of ads (as always!!) making fantastic claims about getting great mortgages at low rates etc some of them are finance companies and you will be signing for extortionate loans which will be all you are repaying in the early years.

Yes as has been posted before - taking a mortgage gives you extra reassurance that the property is legal. However since the American Mortgage crisis the banks have tightened up and now want to see more proof of of earnings and credit ratings. We have good relationships with Spanish banks and will get you a mortgage quote on any of our properties.