Banks recommandations for housing loan

[Kiyora999]

Hi guys,

I asked you for various advices last year about buying a home, and we're finally about to get one!
I got married with my husband last month and he's Japanese.
He worked in his current job for more than 10 consecutive years.
I'm in my current company since 1 year 9 months.

We want to make the loan together, if possible 50%-50% of the house value, but I earn more than him so I may do 60-40 if I'm asked for it for the bank.
We target a 30 millions yens home so I think we're OK budget wise.
We've been asked a pre-acceptation for the loan before being able to do the house contract and that it isn't sold to anyone else.
I'm super stressed since then because I didn't expected it to be so strict and it's really the only house we liked out of the 5 we saw + online ads....

Do you have any banks recommendations for us please?
Especially banks with not too high rates and fast enough for the pre-acceptation of the loan.
We can do the Flat 35S thing it seems.
I don't want full variable, but 10 years fix then variable seems ok to me (especially if we can repay the debt after 10 years if we have the money)
35 years fixed rate would be ok too. (we planned to do a 35y loan)
The house is new.

Thank you very much,

[ricardo]

A local bank may be your best bet, obviously depending on where you live.

I used Hiroshima Bank (I live in Hiroshima prefecture) and it was actually a pretty straightforward and simple procedure.

Your circumstances as described seem okay, assuming you don’t have any large consumer debts or past credit repayment problems.

Do you have a spouse visa or PR? Lack of PR could be an issue.

Not sure if such things as joint mortgages exist here. Joint bank accounts certainly don’t. Really don’t know.

But shop around a little.

[Kiyora999]

Hi Ricardo,

Oh OK thanks for the recommandation, I'll try out to contact some local banks (the house will be in Saitama), I didn't expect them to be better than mega banks (or online banks).

We don't have any loans or past repayment problems.
I don't have PR but he's Japanese so the loan would be done together with him in 1st and me as 2nd paying person. I don't have a spouse visa, but a 5 years Specialist in humanities/Engineer/International business visa (brand new that expires in 2024). The spouse visa is too restrictive for work hours so I didn't changed mine since I work full time.
The agency guy told me it's very common now, then it's more according to tax that people may want to do 70-30 or stuff like this.

[goodandbadjapan]

As far as I know a spouse visa has no restrictions on work hours. I think you are confusing it with a dependent's spouse visa which only applies if you are married to a non-Japanese person in Japan.

[ricardo]

“The agency guy...”

Hmmm....

So who’s going to claim the 1% home loan tax refund? You or your husband? Can it be split? I don’t know.

I doubt you’ll have any problems getting the loan based on the information you provided. Just not sure about the split thing and this ‘agency guy’.

[Kiyora999]

As far as I know a spouse visa has no restrictions on work hours. I think you are confusing it with a dependent's spouse visa which only applies if you are married to a non-Japanese person in Japan.

Oh yes maybe I'm confused with the dependent visa!
But to have a loan easier, it's either you have a PR visa or you don't no? A spouse visa would have better chances to get a loan than a Specialist in Humanities one? In the end we still have the certificate of marriage from the ward office and I have proof of my income and tax declaration separately.

“The agency guy...”

Hmmm....

So who’s going to claim the 1% home loan tax refund? You or your husband? Can it be split? I don’t know.

I doubt you’ll have any problems getting the loan based on the information you provided. Just not sure about the split thing and this ‘agency guy’.

The person from Century 21 if you prefer!

He told us the tax refund is calculated according to the value we pay into the house. So that if I earn more than my husband it could be more interesting we don't do a 50-50 but rather 60-40, 70-30 or something similar for taxes benefits.

The thing bothering me is that I'm the one who makes most of the money but I'm foreigner and just have 1 year 9 months consecutive employment in my company.
He has 10 years consecutive but earns half than me and wouldn't be able to do the loan alone according to the simulation.

We'll try all online banks tonight like the Agent recommended for fast loan application and low rates, but I fear that robots put us automatically out since I don't have PR (there isn't any mention of "married to a Japanese national" or something like that except for Shinsei Bank).

I think I'll just take a day off tomorrow and try the Saitama Resona Bank, SMBC, MUFG and stuff like this :/

[ricardo]

Best to go in to real bank branches, speak to real people with your husband and see what they can do for you in your situation. The online simulations are bollocks.

Also speak to your house builder. That’s what I did. They have connections with local banks and can find one that is suitable for your circumstances. In my case, the first bank he called (Momiji Bank) refused me outright because my employment income from my main source was too low. It was clear immediately that they weren’t interested and it wasn’t even worth going to see them. The next choice, Hiroshima Bank, were much more interested in my total income based on my tax returns.

The house builder spoke directly to the mortgage adviser at Hiroshima Bank while we were in the room and set the ball rolling. He faxed them (yes, I know..) my tax returns for the last few years and they were very interested in lending me money.

So might be worth getting your house builder to do some of the work for you... He’s got a vested interest in the whole thing, after all..

I have no idea how your nationality (and I don’t know what it is) especially with you not having PR, might impact on things. Worth bearing in mind that it could be a hidden issue.

The fact that your husband is Japanese is massively positive. The fact that you don’t have PR or even a spouse visa is potentially negative.

But put people to work for you. Someone out there will want to lend you lots of money. That’s what they do. You just need to find them. Get your ‘agent’ to help. Get your house builder to help. They’ll probably get a commission from the bank when the deal’s done.

[RetireJapan]

When I was looking for a mortgage I spoke to several banks here in Sendai, and the best one (in terms of service/conditions) ended up being Shonai Bank, a local bank from Yamagata. Small local banks can be a great alternative to the megabanks, as they are often hungrier for customers and have more flexibility.

I would recommend talking to as many banks as you can, then picking one or two to have longer conversations with before choosing one.

[RetireJapan]

As far as I know the only reasons to 'split the mortgage' are if you need to borrow more money than one person can afford on their salary (not a great situation from a personal finance perspective) or if you want to split the tax benefit.

[ricardo]

One more point:

You didn’t mention how much you want to borrow as a percentage of the property price. If you want to borrow ¥30m but have another ¥20m as a deposit then that would probably be much easier for a lender to deal with than a 100% loan.

In my case I borrowed ¥16m but put in another ¥12m of my own cash, so the loan-to-value ratio was relatively good. Banks like it when you put your own cash in as well.