Manila home buyers looking for a competitive home loan package: Good news (and a good excuse) to get yourself a new condo or renovate your home in time for Christmas 2010! The latest HSBC Savings Bank Home Loan rate is now at an incredibly, low interest rate of 5.99% per annum, for 1 year re-pricing! If you can tell your HSBC Relationship Manager or accredited mortgage broker exactly what your home financing needs are, they may help you take advantage of this great rate, just in time to get the home of your dreams.
HSBC Savings Bank launched the new home loan scheme last October 1 at their Partners Night exclusively for the accredited mortgage brokers at Glorietta 4 Makati. The rate is exclusive to existing and new HSBC Advance deposit customers.
If you apply today for the HSBC Savings Bank Home Loan, you can customize your loan to fit your unique needs and requirements.
I couldn’t help but think about how some clients and friends tried to beat the September 30 deadline to apply for the 6.99% p.a. annual rate, only to be told now that it’s 1% lower! But as I clarified with the HSBC Marketing and Sales officers, this time the standard mortgage activation fees apply. For the 6.99% promo which lasted til September 30, miscellaneous loan activation fees were waived for the first year.
I wondered then if HSBC Philippines really has the lowest home loan rate today, as many clients have claimed. I surfed the HSBC website and found this comparative table:
HSBC's Home Loan rates, compared with other banks (screenshot taken from hsbc.com.ph)
Benefits of the HSBC Savings Bank Home Loan as gathered from their flyer:
Instant Recognition–if you open an HSBC Home Loan account of at least Php 2,000,000 you automatically qualify as an HSBC Advance customer. Open a home loan of at least PHp 6,000,000, you’ll be recognized as an HSBC Premier customer throughout the bank’s global network.
Discount on Interest Rates for Succeeding Years–All HSBC Advance and HSBC Premier customers exclusively enjoy 0.25% and 1.000% OFF respectively on the prevailing/standard home loan interest rate starting the next re-pricing period. This means big savings for you for the life of the loan!
Semi-Monthly or Monthly Payment Scheme–You can choose to pay monthly or oevery two weeks to match your unique cashs flow needs.
Straight-line or Reducing Balance Calculation Method–Opt for the straight-line scheme so you can easily forecast your amortization cost along with your other expenses. Or, go for the Reducing Balance option to save on interest payments.
Take a Loan using Other Currencies–Have ample and easy access to other currencies? Call HSBC and they’ll give you a quotation for a home loan in your preferred foreign currency.
If you’ve had your loan account in your current bank for at least three years (and most likely at a much higher rate than now), consider if it’s about time to move your loan to HSBC and save on the interest expense. Most banks allow pre-termination of the loan without any penalty, for as long as you do so on the anniversary date.
How Do You Apply?
It seems easy to apply, so why wait to purchase, build or renovate YOUR dream home, or refinance your existing home loan at a lower rate?
The following are the primary documents required to apply for the HSBC Savings Bank Home Loan:
1. Identification documents:
- 2 valid IDs of spouses (government issued IDs – passport, SSS photo ID, driver’s license) - copy of marriage contract (if married)
2. Income documents
- Original Certificate of Employment
- photocopy of 2 months payslip
- Bank Statements/ Credit Card Statements
- Bank Certificate (preferably all banks that hav deposits in either Php or USD )
3. Collateral documents
- copy of condominium certificate of title (for condominiums)
- copy of TCT (for house and lot) - copy of contract to sell (if pre-selling)
4. Income Tax Return (ITR) – as BSP requirement
You can go to any HSBC Savings Bank branch if you have an existing account or contact an HSBC Relationship Manager thru their website or thru phone banking. HSBC also has their partner broker’s network, where accredited Realtors® and licensed brokers can provide you with the forms and necessary information about the loan. If your Realtor® is knowledgeable about mortgages and has good ties with the HSBC head office, he or she can personally and more quickly facilitate the processing of your loan application.
(Quick tip # 1: HSBC also relies on accredited partner brokers’ information to know the potential borrower’s details, and to know the property history. So if you have good ties with your broker, perhaps you can ask him to present your loan application to HSBC in your behalf. There’s no add-on fee for having a broker do it for you!
Quick tip # 2: When submitting credit card statements as proof of good credit standing, submit the one with the smaller credit limit, not the bigger ones–and make sure that you’ve been paying that card regularly! As I’ve gathered from dealing with other banks, credit inspectors want to ensure that you’ll have more disposable income to pay your home loan since you’re not putting it into big credit card amortization payments. )
Probe a Bit More: Some More Questions to Ask Your HSBC Banker or Mortgage Broker
All right, the rate looks like it’s the lowest in the market today, the promo looks good, and we’ve heard of many clients happy to avail of the low, low rate of HSBC. The marketing and sales team, as well as the branch Relationship Managers are polished and overall quite professional to deal with (I’ve dealt with them for several months now; they’ve helped me iron out some of the start-up kinks in the system to release the loan proceeds, sometime early this year). To find out if the HSBC Home Loan Package will really meet your current home financing needs, ask your Relationship Manager or accredited mortgage broker the following:
1) “Who appraises the collateral (is this their in-house appraiser, or an external party)?” If it’s still the external appraisers that HSBC uses (like before) , are you as the customer entitled to the copy of the full appraisal report? Most banks will not release the appraisal report (especially since they use their in-house appraisers), and only give you your appraised value plus your approved loan amount. And how much is the loan application fee? Fees are anywhere from Php 3,500-4,500, and they are non-refundable. Check if the appraisal fee charged will be different depending on the location of your property for mortgage.
2) “ Will they consider vacant lots for purchase under the home loan package?” I asked my HSBC account officer before and she said “no”, lately she said “yes”. Now it made me think if that’s a solid “yes” or a conditional one. Do ask them.
3) “What’s the maximum loanable amount they’ll give me, as a percentage of the appraised value?” Most banks will give you 70-80% of the appraised value for house and lot, up to 70% for condos, and 60% for lots. The actual loan value they’ll give you will depend too on your credit rating with them, based on the income documents and other information that you’ll give.
4) “How long will it take before the letter of guarantee comes out?” You may get an approval after 7 working days, but when do they give you the letter to present to your seller?
5) “How long will it take to release the proceeds to the Seller?” Yes, good rate, good appraisal, but will the loan proceeds be out in time? The bank will need the title of the property in the name of the new owner before they can process the loan’s annotation. Transferring the title to your name after you sign and notarize the Deed of Absolute Sale can take anywhere from two to six weeks on average. This title transfer facilitation and documentation is done by your broker. Ask your banker how long will it take for them to do their part.
6) “Will there be any pre-termination charges if I pay off the entire loan ahead of the term?” On the other hand, will I get a discount if I pay the principal early?
7) “What are the other charges that you need to pay? And are these paid as a one time charge upfront, or as recurring charges?”
8) “For the mortgage redemption insurance (MRI) policy to cover for the loan, may I forego getting this from HSBC and instead get it from other agencies? Or may I substitute my existing life insurance policy to cover for this?” Check how much you have to pay for the MRI premium. The MRI is to help pay for the entire loan obligation in the event of accidental death of the principal borrower. The annual premiums can be quite substantial, so check if you can get it from other insurance agencies at a lower rate. Ask them too if you can assign your existing life insurance policy in lieu of taking out an MRI.
These are just some questions you can ask your HSBC Relationship Manager or your accredited HSBC mortgage broker. Once you’ve settled all your home loan queries, do consider getting a new home for yourself for Christmas (or a holiday home for you and the family) today. Avail of an HSBC Home Loan now!
