Sorcing A International Loan For Buying Thai Condo

[moomee]

Hi,

We live in Singapore and we found property that we want to buy in Pattaya ( condo). We contacted Bangkok Bank in Singapore branch I was told by property agent that Bangkok Bank provide loan from Singapore. They said the service is no longer available since last year ( december 2008) after the lehman brother collapse. We also contact UOB singapore. They said they only loan for people who buy property in Bangkok.

We would like to find out if it any other financial institutions that would provide international loan to us. BTW, we have steady income in singapore dollars. Any reply appreciated.

Thanks,

[tangoll]

Hello, I sent you a private message. Or you can email me at <pcmar at netvigator dot com> if you don't receive that PM or wish to discuss further.

tangoll

[BangkokWildcat]

I just transferred today and my loan is from HSBC. I'm a local expat and this was the only bank I found to give me a mortgage (UOB stopped their program several months ago).

Not sure about non-Thai based expats but you might want to try them. You can probably forget any/all Thai banks!

[mark5335]

I just transferred today and my loan is from HSBC. I'm a local expat and this was the only bank I found to give me a mortgage (UOB stopped their program several months ago).

Not sure about non-Thai based expats but you might want to try them. You can probably forget any/all Thai banks!

BangkokWildcat,

Is your HSBC loan denominated in baht or a foreign currency? Are you the borrower or guarantor?

Reason I ask is that a couple of years ago I got a loan from BBL SG branch in Sing dollars to finance my BKK condo. I went back to them this year but they no longer provide such loans to foreigners. I ended up getting a loan in BKK through my wife's name but with me a guarantor (and my name not on the land title as owner). I will be in the market for another loan in the future and am therefore curious about your HSBC experience. Thanks.

[BangkokWildcat]

I just transferred today and my loan is from HSBC. I'm a local expat and this was the only bank I found to give me a mortgage (UOB stopped their program several months ago).

Not sure about non-Thai based expats but you might want to try them. You can probably forget any/all Thai banks!

BangkokWildcat,

Is your HSBC loan denominated in baht or a foreign currency? Are you the borrower or guarantor?

Reason I ask is that a couple of years ago I got a loan from BBL SG branch in Sing dollars to finance my BKK condo. I went back to them this year but they no longer provide such loans to foreigners. I ended up getting a loan in BKK through my wife's name but with me a guarantor (and my name not on the land title as owner). I will be in the market for another loan in the future and am therefore curious about your HSBC experience. Thanks.

Hi Mark, my loan is in USD (or you can choose Euro) which sucks as I am repaying in THB and I'm the borrower. You can't get a THB loan.

Overall though, I had a great experience with the local HSBC folks being a Premier customer. Excellent customer service and very professional. Ended up with a variable (sucks but no options here) interest rate of the US Prime Rate + 1.5% on top, a 2k USD Mortgage application fee, an appraisal fee (pretty cheap....5k thb), and a mandatory fire insurance policy coverage as my sum of costs from HSBC for a 7 year mortgage. No penalty for early repayment after year 3.

Hope this helps.,

BW

[trajan]

I second that...

if you join as an HSBC Premier customer (just a minimum of B3 mil in deposits or mutual funds etc.), the service is very professional and convenient....(didnt even need to leave my office....they come to you)......if you work here, you're likely gonna buy mutual funds to max out the Baht500,000 annual tax deduction anyway, so might as well buy through HSBC (which brokers all kinds of third party mutual funds)....

in the past I got a HSBC mortgage loan for a condo in Baht (but I set up a local company to buy the condo) and acted as individual guarantor....Ive since paid off the mortgage loan and transferred title to my name, but the loan was a life saver at the time....

[[once you have the mortgage loan, you dont need to maintain the B3 mil minimum investment because a mortgage loan above B5 mil automatically gives you Premier status in any event....]]

____________________

Ive also recently obtained another Baht loan from UOB Thailand to refinance a different condo (but I now have a permanent residence book, so that made things even smoother)... (the local HSBC branch doesnt do re-finance transactions...otherwise I would have used HSBC's services)....

Edited June 19, 2009 by trajan

[zorro1]

Im also interested in an ex pat loan for a condo.

Has anybody recently had experience buying a condo here through a bank on a tourist visa (I realize Thai banks dont lend)

[TheyCallmeScooter]

Im also interested in an ex pat loan for a condo.

Has anybody recently had experience buying a condo here through a bank on a tourist visa (I realize Thai banks dont lend)

I'm interested in this as well...

------

Also, the mentions of "guarantor" made me wonder something for the first time perhaps...potentially dumb question, and obviously only relevant for properties in the same country as the banks, but....

Why do banks require proof of income and/or security guarantees for a property loan? Shouldn't the property itself be sufficient? If cannot repay, foreclose, simple.

How / why is it more complex than this?

[InterestedObserver]

Also, the mentions of "guarantor" made me wonder something for the first time perhaps...potentially dumb question, and obviously only relevant for properties in the same country as the banks, but....

Why do banks require proof of income and/or security guarantees for a property loan? Shouldn't the property itself be sufficient? If cannot repay, foreclose, simple.

How / why is it more complex than this?

Banks are in the money business. They loan money out, they expect money returned. Overvalued property is useless to them. Heard about the worldwide mortgage foreclosure crisis that caused many banks to almost collapse?

[Jebhead]

Thai banks DO lend money, you have to show them collateral, ie Channote for a first property or 50% deposit of what you plan to buy, something like that...

You will probably need additional paperwork along the lines of work contract / payslips / history of steady income coming into the bank you plan to borrow from, it is possible!

JH

[zorro1]

Thai banks DO lend money, you have to show them collateral, ie Channote for a first property or 50% deposit of what you plan to buy, something like that...

You will probably need additional paperwork along the lines of work contract / payslips / history of steady income coming into the bank you plan to borrow from, it is possible!

JH

Jeb, 50% would be a low document loan. The bank wouldn't need to see proof of income on that level of deposit I would imagine. However it doesn't help me as I'm not employed or have a work permit.

There use to be a bank or 2(thai affiliated) that lent money from Singapore since you had to be out of the country for the signing. They seemed to have stopped the practice a few years ago. I believe all they wanted was around 30% deposit and some assets or $$$$ in the bank or a second property etc.

scooter, banks dont want to reposes so they will want to see some good equity say 30-40% that way the buyer is pretty committed as well (farang)

local Thais can get away with a lower deposit if they have good credit and a steady job and until recently no deposit was okay, hence sub prime crisis......

[TheyCallmeScooter]

Banks are in the money business. They loan money out, they expect money returned. Overvalued property is useless to them. Heard about the worldwide mortgage foreclosure crisis that caused many banks to almost collapse?

I did. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't the poor sods being given - free money (literally how they see it, or at least my cousin with her 30% p.a. "no repayments for 24 months" house refurbishment - ironically, she didn't pay, maybe she's smarter than I give her credit for, but anyway...) - who were at fault in accepting loans for overvalued property.

The central reserve banks are gifting these guys ridiculous interest rates as part of post-recession expansionary monetary policy. How are they getting away with requiring guarantees for property loans? Something just seems so...wrong there.

Thai banks DO lend money, you have to show them collateral, ie Channote for a first property or 50% deposit of what you plan to buy, something like that...

You will probably need additional paperwork along the lines of work contract / payslips / history of steady income coming into the bank you plan to borrow from, it is possible!

Jeb, 50% would be a low document loan. The bank wouldn't need to see proof of income on that level of deposit I would imagine.

scooter, banks dont want to reposes so they will want to see some good equity say 30-40% that way the buyer is pretty committed as well (farang)

local Thais can get away with a lower deposit if they have good credit and a steady job and until recently no deposit was okay, hence sub prime crisis......

To your last point, again it seems to me the problem is not lending sans deposit, it's lending for over-valued properties. One way to avoid another inflated bubble would be to force the banks to value the properties themselves pre-loan. I bet they'd keep everything in check then...

But 30-35% fronted deposit is along the lines of what I vaguely had in mind. But being effectively retired (and very much going in the opposite direction of wealth creation), I don't really fancy stumping up 100% for the condo I want to buy. That would put me dangerously close to non-retirement...