Are you a foreigner and staying in Poland? Thinking about taking a loan from a bank? See what amount of own contribution you need to have in order to apply for a mortgage. Do banks support other forms of repayment of the obligation? How much equity contribution must a foreigner have for a mortgage?
Until a few years ago, banks lent 100% of the value of an apartment. The current situation is that most banks require 10%-20%. There are some banks that accept only customers with 20% of their own contribution. They are in the minority, as most banks differentiate between lending with 10% and 20% equity contributions, offering better terms for customers with 20% contributions. Which means that if we want to take out this kind of loan for an apartment worth PLN 300,000, we will need to have PLN 30,000 – PLN 60,000 respectively.
The own contribution for a mortgage is not everything. You also need to keep in mind the so-called credit-related fees, this includes the bank’s commission for granting the loan, the fee for the property appraisal, notary fees, tax.
The commission is usually in the range of 1% – 2%; often for paying the commission the bank offers lower loan margin terms – this option is worth considering. Property appraisal is a cost, depending on the type of property, between 300 – 1200 PLN. Notary fees result from the notary’s fee as well as the notary’s individual valuation of a specific action. As for tax, we have two options to choose from:
- purchase on the primary market – we pay 19zł – if we do not dispose of the aforementioned property within 5 years of purchase there will be no additional tax;
- purchase on the secondary market – we pay 2%.
As you can see, the value of the tax is not very influential, but already which notary to choose or which bank offer is of colossal importance. That’s why it is so important to have the support of a credit specialist, who is usually able to recommend tried and tested specialists, which makes the situation much easier.
