So we’re buying a house.
Jdspouse says the bank told her that I, evil foreign spouse, cannot co-sign the loan from the bank.
Looking for the skinny on this.
Thanks
jds
This subject really pies me off. I have bought and sold 4 homes in the USA, 1 in Spain and have an excellent credit rating and these monkey-nut b*stards here will not allow me to buy property in my name.
3rd world bin-lang no-a dirt-monkey sh*t-balls.
Try doing it without a local wife…
I take that as NO.
JDS -
There might be away around this by involving your business.
I am half-heartedly approaching it from this angle; as a “business asset” purchase. Office & conference room/client area that just happens to have a living area (home) attached to it.
Something to consider…maybe.
The bank said no to me too, and said they didn’t even need to look at my credit rating. I’m a foreigner, and we’re not allowed. Straight out of the loan officer’s mouth.
What idiocy. Something to make some noise about.
When we bought our house, I signed on the dotted line along with the wife. I even shed a tear. Though, I have no doubt that the place is in her name and I have no real claim.
Perhaps I’m wrong.
I’ll ask J for more details later today and post then.
Best,
A
Thanks. I appreciate that.
BTW, I don’t want the house to have any connection to the school, TC, so that avenue is out.
AFAIK, the interestrate is higher for business related loans, so you probably would like to compare the deals (if that was an option for you).
JDS
Whilst this may be slightly out of date, about three years old, we were at that point looking at moving and the Taiwan Co-operative Bank has no problems with me guaranteeing the mortgage, and were even prepared to give us the mortgage in my name, but later advised it would be better if in the wifes name for ownership legal issues, so it can be done, just apply a little more pressure to the bank you are using.
As a side item, when we bought a new car, i also guaranteed the loan, though could not have the loan in my name, again with no problem from the bank.
Thanks. I appreciate that.
BTW, I don’t want the house to have any connection to the school, TC, so that avenue is out.[/quote]
JD
From what the wife tells me is that I just co-signed as a spouse and that the mortgage is in her name.
We did not even ask about the possibilities of me being the borrower, so I can’t say if a foreigner may be granted a mortgage.
All the best,
Alan
Well,all I want to do is co-sign, so we’ll ask again.
Thanks!
As I recall, there is no law to stop a foreigner getting a mortgage entirely in her own name. It’s left to the discretion of the banks, so asking around might be worthwhile.
I used to think it was weird that banks wouldn’t be happy to give mortgages to foreigners, since the usual “what if they jump ship and leave” argument doesn’t really apply. You can’t stick your house in the suitcase. But I’ve since been told that huge numbers of people here default on mortgages, and banks have more reclaimed houses than they can get rid of, and take a big loss on the whole thing.
Soo …
When we bought our house we were told the same thing. Even though I was earning twice what my wife did, my income could not factor into the amount we could borrow, I could not act as guarantor, and I could certainly not have a mortgage myself. In the end the sweetner to this bitter pill was that there was a cheap interest loan available on a goverment program to young, first-time buyers. It made the insult a little easier to bear.
If you do come up with a bank willing to accept the scrawl of a mere foreigner, please post that info.
[quote=“redwagon”]When we bought our house we were told the same thing. Even though I was earning twice what my wife did, my income could not factor into the amount we could borrow, I could not act as guarantor, and I could certainly not have a mortgage myself. In the end the sweetner to this bitter pill was that there was a cheap interest loan available on a goverment program to young, first-time buyers. It made the insult a little easier to bear.
If you do come up with a bank willing to accept the scrawl of a mere foreigner, please post that info.[/quote]
Yup, we qualify as first time home owners too. Low rate for the furst 6months 1.9%; then about 2.5% for 7-24 months, and then 3% or so.
The rates are going up though and there’s nothing to stop it, but it’s still lower than what me firends are paying in the States.
We have opted for plan B, which is what I described contained in a 15 year mortage, but we can pay the monthly mortage plus whatever else is in the coffee can at the time. This is good.
I doubt it will take 15 years to pay off the principle.
The first bank to treat foreigners like any other customer will establish a great little niche in credit cards and mortgages.
I even tried to get a ‘zero balance’ credit limit on a credit card, and was told ‘No, too risky’ :loco:
This has gotten in the way of us buying a place as well. I guess I’m earning 3~4 times what my sweetie is, and we can afford it, but what are the chances of getting a mortgage based on her salary alone? :fume:
It’s not really the mortage J, it’s the downpayment. If you can get that out of the way, 10-15% usually, then you can get an 85% mortage loan…and then you have to think about decorating.
The only thing that keeps me going is that we will have about a 15 ping open kitchen with a big marble top counter and a western style over. 
That and there is a permanent park in front of the house.