My thai wife and I are currently living and working in Australia. We plan on retiring back to Ubon Ratchathani in about 15 months and would like to buy a house in Ubon city. We already have a house and farm about 100 kms from Ubon but would like to live in Ubon city for the sons schooling, etc.

While we are still working I would like to possibly borrow the money for the house and pay it off monthly until we move back to Thailand permanently and then pay off the balance from our own super fund. I have done a bit of looking around with the banks and came across the Government Housing Bank. On their website they have a scheme for thais who are living abroad and working to borrow 85% of the money for a house.

We enquired about this scheme and received an email from Sun Assets who appear to be managing this scheme for the GHB. They sent us the application forms via email to fill out and asked us to also include bank statement, pay slips, tax assessments etc. and send them back to them for consideration. I am a bit suspicious of sending my bank details via email due to the possibility of some sort of fradulent activity occuring.

Now my question is does anybody have any experience with this bank and this scheme? Are the normal banks (we both have accounts with Bangkok bank) in Thailand open to lending money for home loans to people in our circumstance. I would prefer to do all the applications etc face to face in Thailand if possible. We will be back in Thailand for a holiday in Dec 10 and Jan 11 so will bring all the necessary paperwork to be presented for a loan application. During this period we would like to start the ball rolling and look for a house to buy.

Is there anything else that I need to look into in relation to borrowing money for a home loan in Thailand.

Many thanks

Strange, Thai government banks usually turn down a mortgage when a foreigner is involved. Bangkok Bank would be more than happy to give your wife a mortgage, you may have to cosign. Go see them.