International Mortgage Lenders

Summary: Taking a look at the services offered by international mortgage lenders offering home finance in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France

Both expatriates already living abroad as well as those contemplating a permanent move overseas often come unstuck when it comes to raising the home finance to remortgage a home overseas, buy off plan abroad or invest in an overseas property which is why there has been something of a concerted effort made by international mortgage lenders of late to draw attention to the wealth of dynamic services that they can offer.

This article covers international mortgage lenders in four of the most popular overseas locations, namely Spain, France, Italy and Portugal – we look at what’s available from the big name expatriate mortgage providers in terms of mortgage products and ongoing buyer assistance.

It’s imperative to mention at this point a couple of things – firstly as most people are already aware, the property a mortgage is secured upon can be at risk if the mortgage policy holder fails to keep up their repayments, and secondly not everyone will find that this information is applicable to their circumstances and so they could consider directly contacting an international mortgage lender and clearly asking whether they can help them based on their own personal circumstances.

A number of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the UK have a strong presence in the European financial services market – for example HSBC has branches across Europe and Barclays Bank have a long established local presence in all of the four countries that this article deals with – this means that it can be as easy as popping down the road to the local branch - whether the mortgage seeker is still in the UK or already in France, Spain, Italy or Portugal – so secure their international mortgage.

For those located elsewhere, not within easy reach of a branch or who prefer to deal with such things over the phone or online all of the banks offering international mortgage products advertise online and most will call you back for a chat if you simply give them your contact details saving you even the price of a phone call to find out what’s available.

Different nations have different lending restrictions and international mortgage lenders have to abide by local rules.  For example, those who can lend in Portugal have to ensure that the buyer can afford the repayments before offering finance – generally you can borrow up to 70% of the home’s value in Portugal.  In Spain the maximum allowable Loan to Value is 70% of the valuation but never more than 100% of the purchase price, in France most international mortgage lenders will offer up to 80% of the property price (or valuation, whichever is lower) or up to 70% on special leaseback properties and finally in Italy the amount a buyer can borrow often depends not only on their personal circumstance but on their requirement for the money.  To explain this further, Barclays Bank for example can offer international mortgages in Italy up to 70 or occasionally 80% of the purchase price for a completed property, 65% for a renovation property, they will consider lending to those involved in self-build projects and they even offer remortgage and equity release on Italian property.

The terms and conditions available in each nation differ and they differ between lenders too but never greatly…to determine which international lender is ‘better’ is a personal choice often but a buyer should consider the amount of experience the lender has in the local market and whether or not they offer support services such as advice about moving to live abroad as well as ongoing banking services to fulfil all their requirements for expatriate banking services, international health insurance, overseas home insurance etc…oh, and have a look who has the best interest rates too!

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