Are the banks ripping you off?
You’ve trawled the Estate agents and surfed the internet and now you’ve finally found your ideal home in Spain. You’ve been to the bank and arranged your mortgage. You’ve even ordered you new furniture.
Now, the time has come for you to visit the notary and sign for your property and mortgage. Be prepared, a notary appointment at 10.30am probably means you won’t get seen until at least 11.00 and won’t come out until around 12.30pm. But, who cares? It’s an exciting time.
So, you are in the Notary’s office with your lawyer, the seller and the bank manager. There are many papers being passed around and scrutinised and lots of very fast conversation in Spanish. It’s all a bit confusing! Suddenly a piece of paper is thrust in front of you – buildings insurance – the bank won’t let you sign for the mortgage without the insurance, and without the mortgage there’s no house!! So what do you do? Well, you sign of course, you have no choice. In all the excitement, you’d forgotten about the insurance. You were going to sort it out once you’d moved in!
Once the dust has settled and you actually check the insurance premium charged by the bank you may be in for a shock. It’s very likely that if you’d realised before you could have got a much better deal elsewhere.
So many people fall into this trap. Don’t be one of them. Do your research beforehand. Unless it is a specific condition of the mortgage, you are not obliged to take the bank’s insurance.
Speak to us at Hamilton Insurance. Remember; don’t let the banks rip you off!!
Oh, by the way, we can arrange you mortgage too!!
