City of Murcia

can anyone reccomend a good mortgage lender.

we bought with medsea and they recomend certain banks, and we are also looking at abbey/banco santander, as we have an account with them over here in uk, and they offer 1 free money transfer per month.

just wondering if anyone has any good/bad experiences with any lenders? 

For anyone from Ireland, Halifax (prev Bank of Scotland) are doing mortgages plus other facilities for buyers in Spain from a new Spanish office in Dublin. I can't compare rates with local banks in Spain as I'm not an expert, but the convenience of having a branch in your locality and not needing to deal with an overseas bank appears very useful.

Here's the website I saw yesterday: http://www.bankofscotland.ie/index.jsp?1nID=93&2nID=96&3nID=96&4nID=96&nID=228&aID=487

I presume UK branches are doing something similar. If the rates are poor or not what they seem, please let me know and I'll stop pretending I know what I'm talking about.

Up until now we've been considering a few mortgage institutions in Murcia that MRI recommend, but as we won't need to borrow for about another 12 months we haven't actually used any of them yet. I'd be glad of feedback one way or other.

Frank

 

We bought on Phase 1 and were given the opportunity to take over the builders mortgage.

This was with Caja Murcia bank  & the interest rate was Euribor + 1%.The advantage of this was we saved around €3000 on fees.We asked for an interest free period & eventually they agreed to it.

I t would be worth checking out if this will be offered to later phases,as it is in both parties interest to do so.From what i understand there was quite alot who took the offer up.

Good luck     Dave & Lynda

got the application from halifax. you need to lodge 600 euro to a spanish a/c before they will even look at your application.ive got my mortgage thru bank of ireland who deal with la caixa bank. much the same set up as halifax but no need to pay them 600 to look at it. best of luck with the mortgage hunting.

Ace....

hi, we have just opened a bank account here in england with the halifax,and also an account with the halifax in los alcazares . this means that we can transfer monies from our english bank account to our spanish bank account with no transfer charge. normally it can cost 25 poundsa shot as i am sure many of you are aware.we opened our spanish account through halifax international dep ,and yes we did have to deposit 600 euros.we would have needed   a bank account in spain before we could have any utilities conected so we would have had to transfer monies to a bank somewhere in spain anyway. You can also organise your spanish mortgage through halifax and sort out eveything here in the uk   . if you want the phone number please send a private email.(i dont want to get my message wiped off) in case they think im on commission im not> its just so much easier

Some information that may be useful to someone?

When I was over there last January, I walked in to the Halifax and asked to set up an account.

You need the usual info (passport, proof of address in England, etc) but it was set up in 30 mins.

I deposited 100Euros to open (can't remember if that was a minimum requirement, i dont think it was, even so £66 is not bad)

For that you are given a hole in the wall card and internet access, everything you will need going forward, i think?

 

Evertom.

 

Hi All

Excellent thread! As a result I telephoned local branch of Halifax in Ballygowan Northern Ireland and we are opening account tomorrow. They gave me the following number 0845 6003603 Option 1 and they are sending me a pack and I will be able to open the Spanish account by post!

I'll keep you advised

Bunty

I already bank with Halifax in the UK, so I opened an account with Banco Halifax Hispania as an easy option. I can't honestly make any comparisons with other Spanish banks, but have been very pleased with the service received so far.

I can manage both accounts online and transfer money FOC.  Yes, they required 600 euro to open the account and there is a few euros more to pay if you want their "Extra" account - I can't remember the benefits so best to speak to one of their advisors about the differences and make up your own mind.They provide a card to draw cash when in Spain, but remember that the account is with a Spanish bank and therefore the instructions on the cash-machines are also in Spanish, so brush up on the basics before using them.

The staff in the branch at Alczares are very helpful and I was surprised to find that shortly after transfering a large sum into the account from the UK,  I received a phone call from the branch advising me to transfer this money to a savings account to avoid any loss of interest.

I also used an ex-pat mortgage broker based just outside Alcazares who is doing a good deal for me on a euro mortgage. Please send a private message if you would like details as, like the earlier posting i don't want anyone to think I'm on commission as I'm not.  Just happy to provide a recommendation based on experience.

This message was last edited by gbzmep on 1/28/2007.

Hi , like wise , we have just transferred money to our Halifax account in Los Alczeres and this transaction was FOC at a rate of 149, both Banks have been very helpful and friendly. Now awaiting a call to ask us to put the money in a savings account  :-).

Regards

 

Gary and Sue