brickweb

We are in the U.K. and have begun the process of buying a house in Limoux, however we now need a mortgage. Has anybody got any experience of getting a French mortgage without too much of a 'fuss'?

dennerlymum

just dont mention mortgages to me!!!!
Perhaps someone will be along who can help; I'll just go and take another dose of the tranquillisers

Tweedpipe

Come on, spill the haricots. What happened?

G-J-B

Visited two banks today for the same purpose. I'm self-employed, and have only worked in France since 2008 so have had to see the 'professionals' department, who have asked for last years tax declaration and the last three months of my accounts, but haven't run into any problems. I guess it all depends on how much you want to borrow - I think they'll allow up to a third of your net salary.

Ka Ora!

It can be done, But hassle free thats a long shot. But all this being said last last house we sold here in France to an English couple they got their mortgage in the UK. Its worth checking out HSBC in Carcassonne then you have a chance of doing it in an English Speaking environment.

G-J-B

Sorry, I wasn't certain from your first post whether you wanted a French mortgage from a bank in the UK, or whether you wanted one with a French bank for when you move over? If it's the former,are there not concerns with fluctuating exchange rates in the future?

dennerlymum

phew! calmer now. We have had a ongoing debacle with our bank re the mortgage since Jan when we asked to lengthen the term: the reply was no problem yet despite repeated meetings/calls nothing has yet been done!!!! We are on the point of moving the mortgage despite the cost which will be steep!!

Ka Ora!

CA perchance?

dennerlymum

noo!! Bank Unpopulaire
think we will move to Credit Mutuelle; but have a last ditch meeting with the manager on Wed next... I am not hopeful!!

White-ishRose

... it depends what you call a 'fuss'. If you go in eyes open knowing that in France everything revolves around mountains of paperwork and you will have to add to this mountain, then it is not a fuss. We used CA who have English speaking staff, they recommended an English speaking Notaire (which is essential to get through the minefield of legalities) and they guided us through all the plethora of paperwork that we would need to supply. Once we had ticked all the boxes (and more importantly...) reached the required depth of paper we sent off the application and 10 days later we had the offer of mortgage. Maybe we were just lucky and had excellent service from CA. (3.5 months from seeing the house to moving in!)

Ka Ora!

We had a new CM branch open last week here, We have given CiC a Try over the last 3 or 6 months and given they are friendlier than the CA staff but their efficiency is on par with CA. They have a Crap machine to pay cash and checks in and it takes 3 days to be entered on the account, Plus in the branch we were using there are two front of house members of staff that constantly palm each others work of on each other. So tiddlyfrollocks to them we shall take our cash else were I would use HSBC for day to day but I dont want to drive to Toulouse every time I want to pay a check in.

G-J-B

When I was in England a few weeks back I told my partner about our meeting with the BNP, and out of the corner of my eye I could see my sister's half-Mayalsian boyfriend's mortified face! Had to reassure him it was just a bank!
Anyhow, we went to see BNP, HSBC and LCL. BNP were punctual, friendly (even invited us for breakfast this weekend) and offered a competitive rate, though some of their fees are more expensive than other banks. HSBC (who I have a professional account with) were rubbish - they kept us waiting more than 20 minutes (we almost left) because the guy decided to extend his lunchbreak, with no apologies to us. They couldn't give a competitive rate, though we weren't surprised. LCL only kept us waiting 10 minutes, were good and they offered something very much on par with BNP, but they don't have personal email addresses, so it's either fax or a generic phonecall to contact them. We're probably going to go with BNP.

Roger O

Two things in France are different
Normall you get a personal loan, not a mortgage using the property as security.
Because of that, the French bank does no (valuation) survey of the property which means you are on your own in determining whether you are paying a fair market price and if anything happens, you personally are responsible for the loan - i.e. you could be forced (by circumstance) to sell the property to repay as your only option, but the bank cannot repossess it as a security.

Back in 1992 when we were still working in Switzerland, we bought a small second property in department 66 via Crédit Mutuel who granted a 100% personal loan but required us to purchase 50% contravalue in "parts" - i.e. what amounted to dividend paying shares in the CM. These were blocked until we had paid off at least 50% of the loan, or sold the property. We did it like that because the nice Swiss authorities allow tax deduction on loan payments against secondary properties - and that without limit on their number, so if you buy 2 or 3 properties in this way, you can end up paying zero Swiss income tax!
nice, eh!

Le Chant

French mortgage with Caisse d'Epargne who have been absolutely fantastic with us. Very understanding of the business we're in, and the ups & downs associated with it. paid back bank charges to us in 'shares' without us even asking!

Laid back, friendly service. I can't fault 'em. The TSB and Barclays back in the UK, on the other hand.....:curse:

dmu

I agree, la Caisse d'Epargne is the tops!