Is the transfer of home loan credit free of charge?

How does the housing credit transfer work?

The first step to carry out a housing credit transfer is to communicate to your bank that you are dissatisfied with the current contract conditions. The bank may suggest renegotiating and offer you a new proposal, providing a bonus on the spread if you hire new products, such as a credit card, for example.

On par with negotiating with the current bank, to understand if it is possible to have better conditions at another bank, you can request proposals from other banking institutions based on your property and outstanding capital.  

From there, you can compare the proposals you have on the table: from your bank and from competitors. If you have a proposal from a different bank that makes more sense for you, where you can make more monthly savings, consider transferring your home loan.

Does transferring home loan credit pay off?

With a housing credit transfer, it may be possible to have a lower spread and change the interest rate regime, which can generally reduce the total loan amount. However, to have a lower spread, for example, you may be subject to other conditions, such as direct deposit of salary, contracting a credit card, and subscribing to the required insurance at the insurer associated with the bank. However, depending on the insurer and the conditions of the new insurance, you may be able to significantly reduce the amount you were paying for them, and consequently, the monthly installment of the credit.  

Currently, it may also be worthwhile to transfer credit if you have a variable interest rate on your loan, linked to the Euribor. This is because the fixed interest rate regime, or even mixed, is currently lower than the variable one. However, when interest rates go back down, this situation will reverse again.

One must be aware that, depending on the bank where you have your mortgage contracted and the bank you are considering transferring to, there may be costs associated with the process.

Is the transfer of home loan credit free?

As a rule, the costs of transferring a home loan are covered by the bank, not by the client.

However, there are banks that pass on certain costs to the customer, so this process is not 100% free in all entities.

So, specific costs always depend on the bank and the mortgage contract.  

What costs can it have?

Must take into account that some banks have associated costs with the credit transfer process, such as:

• Early repayment commission (maximum of 0.5% of the capital repaid if the interest rate is variable, and a limit of 2% of the capital repaid in the case of a fixed interest rate);  
• Cost with a new deed;
• Commissions related to the opening of proceedings.
• And the cost of a new property evaluation.

The value of these costs is variable, and may or may not be high. Therefore, you should pay attention to the bank campaigns for housing credit transfers without costs, partially or entirely.  

Therefore, to understand if it is worth transferring your home loan, it is important to do the math on the monthly amount you will save, compared to the costs you may have with the process.

If you need to know more information, particularly about your specific case, you can turn to a credit intermediary like those from Savings in a Minute. Through a personalized and free service, they accompany you throughout the process, from comparing proposals from various banks, to the final decision that is most appropriate and beneficial for your family.

💸 Do the free simulation now and find out how much you can save with credit transfer!