Has anyone any information on banks which may be willing to offer mortgages to non-residents who are buying property as an individual?

My unit at West Park is due for completion in December and Easy Credit are in a position where they are temporarily unable to offer mortgages to non-residents. Without finance, I am unable to complete my purchase so any help or advice gratefully received.

Anyone fancy buying a 1 bed unit in West Park?

Don't have any info. I'm afraid, but have to agree that this is potentially a big problem for PS investors who have gone into Romania.

Are we basically saying that there is no finance available for UK residents in Romania at present?

If this is the case, there must be a stack load of PS investors who have bought off plan in Romania and will be getting very nervous indeed about whether they are going to be able to complete on their deals.

Dave

Hi Dave,

certainly Easy Credit are telling me that they are unable to offer finance to non-residents currently and say that this will be the position for anything from a couple of weeks up to a couple of months which will take it nicely past my completion date.

I have also come to the conclusion that when told things are "temporary" in Eastern Europe, you can read that as "indefinite" so who knows when the situation will change.

Pete

thats worrying as I have a unit completing in December.

Can we have a statement from PS and Easy Credit about this?

Dear All

I have received information from EasyCredit stating that Bancpost are not currently lending to non-residence. The situation with Bancpost I have been told may last a couple of weeks to a month and a half.

EasyCredit are in discussions today with another bank who can possibly lend and information regarding this should be received shortly by Property Secrets.

I will keep you updated on the situation.

Kindest regards
Debbie

As Debbie mentioned, there is no need to worry about the situation in Romania for non-residents (as only Bancpost has set these temporary conditions), and we are currently discussing these type of mortgages also with other Romanian banks as well.

For pending clients at Bancpost we are confident to have their mortgage files approved according to the previous conditions which means that pre-approved clients should not be in danger of getting their mortgage approved.

For any specific details about your personal mortgage already sent to Bancpost, please contact us for further details.

We have used Bancpost for a long time because of their favourable procedures when accepting foreign applicants. But the reason of this change at Bancpost, does not mean that other banks in Romania are not willing to finance non-residents !

As Easy Credit we are always in talks with other Romanian banks to try to obtain preferential conditions for investors who would want to invest in Romania using individual mortgages, as our company policy is to offer foreign investors preferred mortgage conditions (as opposed to standard conditions)

For instance: recently we have sent a proposal to a particular Romanian bank to take into consideration the option of a partial "interest only mortgage" (a first for Romania) and we are awaiting the response of this bank in the next couple of weeks.

I will keep in touch with Debbie about any positive changes that will occur, and we will get back with a new improved conditions as soon as possible !


with kind regards

Stefan
(Managing Director at Easy Credit)


PS: Anyone having specific questions can always reach me by email on:
stefan(at)easycredit-bucuresti.ro
or by phone (7 days a week between 11:00 and 19:00 UK time) on
+4072.60.844.60

What about other banks? Volksbank for example?

Or is this a consequence of the National Bank tightening up lending criteria generally?

A definitive explanation from Easy Credit (the experts on the ground) would be appreciated by many.

Regards

Charles

All Romanian banks were bound by the new "Regulation 11" to re-send their credit norms (including Volksbank as well) to the Romanian National Bank by the 6th of October 2008

This Regulation 11 was initiated by the Romanian National Bank already in June 2008, not because of the credit crisis (al though the timing might suggest this), but to have banks approve mortgage credits in a more client orientated way taking into consideration a forseeable exchange rate fluctuations (margin) during the duration of a mortgage when financing in foreign currency and to have banks calculate the maximum mortgage exposure with a certain margin based on the client's net eligable income.

This meassures are to protect the 'average' consumer as most banks offered clients a fixed promotional rate for 6 months to a year, without really calculating the affordability based on the variable interest rate ...

These new norms will simplify mortgage credits in Romania, and make it more clear what the average cost of a mortgage will be.

We (as Easy Credit) are now simply waiting on a confirmation of each bank to communicate their new norms which we expect to receive in the course of this week.

In case of any further (specific) questions, do not hesitate to contact me

Thanks for that. Can you clarify the position with regard to non-residents? That's what readers are concerned about.

Charles

Sorry. You have above...I missed that one!

Chrales