Expatriates From Mars
Regrettably UK mortgage lenders remain obstinate in seeing
the merit of lending to expatriates. “We do not want to pursue debt overseas” is
their supine response.
As an expat knows, it’s a frustrating business dealing with UK financial
institutions from overseas. In the event of human contact with someone with a
rudimentary grasp of English it will soon be plain that you may as well be
calling from Mars as Dubai, Honk Kong or any other expatriate centre. A likely
end response will be an inability to help, or if help is considered a
possibility then one must be prepared to suffer the indignities of a KGB style
interrogation. We know of lenders nowadays that set 40 minutes by for initial
mortgage interviews.
Any relief or gratitude at being offered assistance would have to be tempered by
remembering that most lenders treat expatriates differently from domestic
business if they will deal with them at all. Being overseas means that they
can’t credit score and this gives them a wonderful opportunity to decline or
load the lending rate.
International Mortgage Plans (IMP) have tried for over 20 years to get
the message through to these myopic institutions. They ignore the evidence that
expatriate lending has a far better persistency and a far lower record of
default or arrears. Bearing in mind that loans are usually restricted to 70/75%
of value, and that in the event of repossession the lender would be taking over
an income reducing asset, lenders reticence in dealing with expatriates has no
justification. There is also a politics of envy that pervades some lenders –
expats are ‘rich’ so why shouldn’t they pay more!
Cheltenham & Gloucester recently had the temerity to state that they viewed
expatriate business as high risk, bracketing it with ‘sub prime’! This is total
nonsense. Other lenders manage to deflect expatriates by saying that they must
give a declaration that repatriation will occur within a finite time – 3 years
with the Halifax. What expatriate can accurately predict their movements in this
way – and why should it matter!
IMP has spent over 20 years ensuring that their clients can obtain the
same lending terms as their domestic counterparts whether letting or not. It’s a
sad reflection of things that the expatriate mortgage market place is much
narrower now than it was when IMP set up in 1988
We keep a constant eye on the mortgage terms on offer domestically and for
expatriates and our current summation of the market place can be found on our
A-Z of Expatriate Mortgages. If you wish to compare your own current terms with
those currently available click on IMP’s website
www.international-mortgage-plans.com
which will give an overview of the market place, lenders comparable terms and
invite an application for a commitment free Agreement in Principle.
Adrian Wright
May 2011
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