David, sound very promising. Let us know how you get on.
Huw

As you appreciate each client's experience with the mortgage process is different and this can depend on the client's personal circumstances or bank they are dealing with. I have spoken to clients who have found the whole process straight forward and easy and others like yourself who have found the experience not a pleasant one.

I appreciate your difficulty and have taken your comments on board. Did you choose Deustche bank via a broker, as they should be able to speak to the bank to understand why your application was not accepted.

As you appreciate the TGC mortgage signatury service is just that a signatury service they do not translate the documentation they only sign it on your behalf and give you an address for your mortgage information to be sent to. They do not have any further dealings with the mortgage process, your payment schedule should be sent to via your mortgage provider.

The estimate of the time for you mortgage is going from the guidelines set down by the banks/brokers. We ourselves have been told that the time from application to offer is between 2-4 weeks, but this is on the condition that all required documentation has been sent to the bank and no further request of documentation has been made by the bank.

The mortgage rates that have been stated in the Investment Reports are for guidance only and can go up and down with time, but also can alter due to client's personal circumstances.

As for the mortgage offer and how long is this valid for, this varies from bank to bank and it is very important for client's to speak to your mortgage provider who will be able to answer this question.

The Head of the i-PA team will be able to deal with your concerns regarding the letting of a unit, and management fees.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kindest regards
Debbie Le Goff

Thanks Deborah, all very sound advice, but a little late in the day really. The chap who took my £500 deposit didn't share this knowledge. Of course, at that time, I didn't know what I didn't know and couldn't ask the right questions. I'd be interested to hear what percentage of clients sort out their mortgages in 6-8 weeks. I could not get a reply from some of your recommended sources within 6-8 weeks! There is nothing wrong with my credit rating or my finances. I did phone your office several times, and this level of information was not forthcoming. I know you were in Poland last week meeting with TGC, as Christine told me. To be honest, I would have expected a call back, rather than a post. I am really glad for others, if their experience hasn't been the same as mind - the reason for my post was to advise others that this process is not as easy as it might seem, and that they shouldn't be seduced by your marketing, that there is easy money to be made. Investors need to sit down carefully and do the maths - and with only a few weeks between opening of an offer and allocation, this is not always easy to do (especially if you have a full time job and a young family). Re schedule of payments - I would expect these to be provided at the outset from the developer in line with the building schedule - you could not provide these, nor could TGC. TGC only gives you 7 days notice to draw down, and if you are sending funds from the UK, this is not enough time to get a payment sorted with no advance warning, so it will inevitably be late. Moreover, where you have an option to proceed or not, this should be by express consent, not "if we don't reply to this email within 7 days we will assume you wish to proceed". E mail, unlike registered post, does not guarantee receipt. This seems to me, to be a reckless approach to a significant investment. I've paid for the local completion service, so I think PS should be keeping an eye on the build and understand what stage they are at, and when the next payments are due. It would also be good to have some progress reports, with photographs. I can't see any on the website - please point me in the right direction if I have missed them. Perhaps I am expecting too much, but I've received better service from other agents, and so the bar has been set. This experience falls significantly below it. You can either take my feedback on board, or you can disregard it. Up to you.

Hi

I have come across the following news item regarding Frontiers Financial Services - has anyone heard any further information on this. We are looking into it but this sounds too good to be true to me.


Frontiers Financial Services has launched a mortgage for investors interesting in buying in Poland. The broker said its 100% LTV mortgage is available on a capital and interest- only basis over a 40-year term and that there is no need for investors to visit Poland or provide notarised documentation to apply for the finance.

Noreen

Thank you for your post.

The i-PA service does post monthly updates on each development, where if they have pictures they are made available. They also give updates on when anticipated completion is. If there is an upcoming payment this is also mentioned.

As for the payment schedules this is noted in every Preliminary Purchase Contract which you can obtain from TGC. TGC also do send out payment schedules for the later developments.

I do understand that the process is not straight forward, but as I said the turnaround time for a mortgage is about 2 weeks. This is only if all required documentation has been supplied and I know that this can take several months to get everything together.

PS is trying to do their best to improve the client experience with the brokers/banks but this is something that will not change overnight but it is moving in the right direction.

Kindest regards
Debbie

The latest product news from Poland's Noble Bank is that INTEREST ONLY mortgages are now available for foreign investors.

The bank offers 75% to 90% LTV in ALL currencies - effectively PLN, Swiss francs and euros.

Crucially for investors, however, a 12 months interest only period is available to all borrowers.

The bank is also willing to look at longer interest only periods on a case by case basis. And, if a borrower is a 'well-established property investor', then an interest only period of five years may be possible.

We're checking out further details.

Interest only mortgages – further details

I got confirmation from Jakub Król that Noble Bank has been gradually introducing the interest only mortgages to foreign clients. 12 months period is available to all, but 5 years could be granted only to professional property investors (investors who got at least 3-4 properties in the country).
Recently, one of our client got 3 years interest only mortgage.

The terms, conditions and interest rates are the same as for repayment mortgages. Interest rates are linked to 3M Wibor for Polish zloty, 3M Euribor for Euro and 3M Libor for CHF and US$ (however they very rarely lend in US$). 2.95% is Noble’s margin added on the top of Wibor, Euribor or Libor for 75-90% LTV (90% LTV is max).

The important change in Noble terms and conditions is that now they require 3 x monthly mortgage payments in advance in the form of deposit for loans up to PLN600,000 and 6 x monthly mortgage payments for loans exceeding PLN600,000 before they disburse a mortgage.

This is a new initiative by Noble Bank to prevent any arrears on the clients behalf. Banks are very stringent with payments being made on time. A delay of even one day in payments can lead to clients being put on the black list which can mean difficulties in obtaining credit in future.

The new Noble terms are a result of the new requirements from the Commission of Banking Control.

It is very important that our clients ensure they meet the payment deadlines

Cheers,
Anna

I know that even if the interesting only mortgages are appealing to clients that the fact they would need to put forward 3 to 6 months worth of mortgage payments may be a bit concering for some clients.

I have contacted Noble bank and spoken to Michal to get further clarification concerning this.

This upfront deposit is a condition of the mortgage, clients will be asked to place this money in their Noble bank account. This money will be blocked in the account so that clients can not withdraw it. The good thing is that Michal stated that clients would be earning interest on this money while it sat in the bank account at the interest rate set by the bank.

The other good point is if you are late, or by chance miss a payment then the bank will automatically take this payment from your bank account. The bank will ask you to replace this payment into the bank account.

This will keep your mortgage account up to date.

So I believe that this can be viewed as a good thing along with the interest only product (subject to status) that Noble is now stating is available for clients.

Kindest regards
Debbie

Debbie,

Do you know if the terms surounding this mortgage are the same as their other deals i.e .

2% arrangement Fee
Interest rate margin of 2.95% so approx 8% total
Early redemption fees of up to 6% reducing to 0% over 6years

If they are, the total cost of the setting up the mortgage 2%fees plus2-4%deposit, the high interest rate and long lock in via the redemption fees don't make this a particularly attractive product. Unless of course you have run out of other options.

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan

From the information that I have received from Noble, the terms for the mortgage is the same. The Base Margin for any loan over 75 LTV is 2.95%. It appears the set-up fee remains the same. As for the redemption penalties I will chech this with Noble bank.

I appreciate what you are saying, but Noble bank are one of the few banks that have considered interest only, along with dealing with self-employed individuals.

I am talking to Noble to see if we can improve the rates for our clients so that they can be more competitive with some of the other mortgages in the Polish market at the moment.

Kindest regards
Debbie