Credit Zone: BCR, Intesa Sanpaolo, Best Banks For Mortgage Loans

Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) and Intesa Sanpaolo are the best banks to go to for a mortgage loan, considering the low costs, the competitive down payment limits (down to zero per cent at BCR and down to 15 per cent at Intesa Sanpaolo) and the eligibility of a wide selection of types of income, according to the latest report released by mortgage loan broker Credit Zone.

Nevertheless, going to either of the two banks does have a disadvantage, Credit Zone analysts warn. Both of them diminish the estimated value of the property to be mortgaged, which causes the value of the loan they grant to be by up to 50 per cent lower than the applicant requests.

"This is not the case of the other banks we reviewed - Alpha Bank, UniCredit, Raiffeisen Bank, Leumi Bank - but the cost is higher as the interest rate they charge is 1-1.5 percent higher. Moreover, the minimum mandatory down payment they require is also higher. Leumi Bank, for instance, requires a down payment of 50 percent," Credit Zone analysts said.

While BCR has a very good response time of 42 days on the average between the time when the complete application is submitted and the time when the loan is disbursed. Leumi Bank is at the opposite end of the ranking. Raiffeisen Bank took an average of 58 days to process applications received via Credit Zone, while Alpha Bank required 63 days.

As for cost, the Credit Zone report indicates that the monthly payment towards a 60,000 EUR mortgage loan for 30 years is 341 EUR at ING Bank, 429 EUR at Intesa Sanpaolo and 434 EUR at BCR.

Credit Zone, the loan brokerage division of the Polish-based group Geting Holding, brokered 169 consumer loans worth an aggregated 7 million EUR in the first half of 2009, down by 17.45 per cent from the corresponding period of 2008, when 96 loans were brokered. Of the 169 loans brokered in the first half of the year, 127 are mortgage loans totalling 6.65 million EUR.