Scottish Widows launches Spanish property remortgage product
Scottish Widows Bank is to enhance its Own Overseas service, which caters for UK residents who wish to buy a property in Spain. The service offers flexible Spanish mortgages as well as help with the buying process. The bank aims to make the service accessible to both current and new Spanish holiday homeowners. It has there for announced a remortgage package which may offer an alternative for those who already have Spanish mortgages.
The Own Overseas remortgage package will see the notary and registry fees paid by the bank, while customers can add the fulfilment and valuation fees to the mortgage, leaving just the stamp duty costs to pay. The products now has a tiered free structure and a tiered rate for customers taking Euro or Sterling mortgages. Customers will also be able to choose from interest only or repayment mortgages.
Gordon Bowden, Business Development Director at Scottish Widows Bank, commented: ‘Despite the significant size of the market, remortgaging isn’t common in Spain - largely due to a lack of attractive remortgaging packages from lenders. According to Datamonitor in their 2004 Buying Property Abroad report there were approximately 540,000 Britons who owned a holiday home in Spain. Within this group, there is likely to be a significant number of people who could benefit from a more competitive deal.’
He added: ‘The Scottish Widows Bank Own Overseas remortgage package offers a cost-effective solution to existing owners and investors looking to remortgage on their Spanish properties. By covering the notary and registry fees and allowing customers to add the valuation and fulfilment fees to the loan, our remortgage package aims to make the transfer to a new lender as easy as possible. ‘