Hi everyone,
We’re buying a new house and selling our current one, and we’d like to transfer our existing mortgage.
Current situation
- Outstanding mortgage: €200,000 at 1.4% (BNP)
- Includes woonbonus
- We want to transfer this loan to the new house
New house
- Purchase price: €640,000
- Additional financing needed: €220,000
- Total financing: €420,000 (+-65% LTV)
Problem
BNP is offering extremely poor conditions for the additional €220,000:
- Interest rate at 4%, which is more than 0.5% above market average?
- This includes a 0.10% discount for "low financing ratio"
- Their proposed mortgage insurance is 2× more expensive than my independent insurer
I contacted another local BNP office for an offer, but they refused to intervene because we already started discussions with our current BNP office (internal policy).
So now I feel stuck with BNP, even though the offer is objectively bad.
Questions
- What realistic options do we still have?
- Is a second-rank mortgage worth considering?
- Can a hypotheekwinkel / mortgage broker still negotiate better conditions (possibly even with BNP)?
- Any other strategies I might be missing?
Any advice or similar experiences are very welcome. Thanks!
Get a better offer at another bank (go to 3-4 banks) and use that to negotiate with BNP. You can go for another round of negotiation back and forth then if needed.
The reason they offer such a bad intrest is because they know you're already locked in with them.
Does this make any sense if I want to keep my existing 1.4% loan with BNP? Do I just reach out to the other bank saying I'll finance 420k of the 640k myself and I just need a loan for 220k for the total project? I don't think so, it's a different situation at that point right?
Or I just explain the full situation with the existing credit at BNP that I want to take over, but than the other bank must accept a second rank position before they can propose something?
I don't know the exact details of the options all banks are offering. When I got my loan (just a regular one), each bank had quite a range of potential options.
I would start by asking if you can do the 420k loan option or not. If not, ask them for a 640k loan and see what they offer. Then you can at least use that to negotiate at BNP.
If BNP offers nothing better, you can calculate which offer is better, taking all elements into account. If BNP is the cheapest option overall, you can still use your calculation to hopefully get a better deal at the other bank. If not, well you tried and got the best deal possible.
In the end, just take action and go to 4-5 or more banks and find out.
You can't have a loan from 2 banks in the same property. They wont do that as it will not give them enough guarantees.
You'll need to refinance the 220k which you now have at 1,4% which is always going to cost you a lot more.
BNP knows this so they aren't going to lower their price. You can try though.
Side note: it’s essentially a game of bluff. BNP will ask you to show them your ‘cards’ (the other offers). You are not required to do so. You know what you have.
If you show it to them, they might do some under the table trickery with their friends at the ither bank(s).
yes you want a deal and they want a share of the profit.
or you can go the traditional route of cancelling the loan and asking a new one.
Did they make a quote for that?
The insurance you can take anywhere, the mortgage interest rate will increase.
But normally the old mortgage is already insured.
ask Fintro, they also use bnp mortgages.
fintro had a better one (insurance), in my time.
Is the additional 220.000 a mandate?
Fire insurance, pension saving, investing accounts, sometimes they offer discounts when you increase their use.
Go talk to a mortgage broker would be my suggestion.
How much of the 200.00 has been paid off already? Because that amount you can relend again (wederopname)
I would just add a new loan for the 220.000 with a new bank (like I did)
The 200k is what they have left on the mortgage, not the original amount.
I see.. depending on the original amount, they can still opt for 'wederopname'
Sorry but no. You can’t transfer the loan (because of the existing mortgage that is established and registered by BNP) only take out a new loan elsewhere and lose the woonbonus plus you will have to pay a fee for closing the loan at BNP (usually 3 months of interest). Those disadvantages will probably be more costly than staying at BNP and swallowing the 0.5% extra costs.
A second rank mortgage is not your decision but the bank’s because it means they have less security when you fail to reimburse. They will only grant that if you leverage by holding an investment portfolio or other similar assets.
You might feel stuck but you signed the contract and took on the commitment. Read the contract before signing.
Thanks for your reply, maybe I didn't express myself well enough. I don't mean "transfering" as in transfering to another bank. I mean remain with the same bank, but take over the existing mortgage for the new home (of course as you want to keep 200K at 1.4% at all cost).
I don't get your point "you might feel stuck but you signed the contract and took on the commitment. Read the contract before signing.". I didn't sign anything yet, the extra loan that is proposed was of course not signed yet, hence my question for advice if I have any other options left to make sure I get a better offer (from BNP or another bank that wants to go second rank).
I read it as refinancing in another bank because you wrote that you felt stuck with BNP. I don’t work there so I have no idea how you could negotiate a better offer from your own bank. Usually it is linked to bringing in additional assets or an insurance portfolio. External brokers like Hypotheker will not interfere in your negotiations with your own bank.
But you can re use that loan to keep the woonbonus i did that as well when i bought another house with my SO I forgot the details though i got a lot of financial help from the immotheker