A Cheat Sheet to Finding the Best and Lowest Interest Rates on Housing Loans in the Philippines
Suck at money? Congrats. You’re part of the 99 percent of people in their 20s floundering when it comes to finance. Adulting is hard, and money is harder—especially when it’s your own and not your parents. My Two Cents is here to break down everything you need to know about finance, business, and entrepreneurship. We’ll tackle all the basics, from how to get a business permit to how to invest in stocks, to educate the fledgling adults on how to not go broke.
Welcome to the idiot’s guide to money. Eleventh lesson: Finding the best interest rates on housing loans in the Philippines.
We can’t live out of rented condos—or for some of us, with our parents—forever. Everyone has a dream home, but not everyone can pay for it—at least, not right away. That’s where housing loans step in to help people pay for the purchase or construction of their dream home.
Housing loans, also called mortgages, are given out by mainly either banks or the government’s Housing Development Mutual Fund, aka Pag-IBIG. Both methods are viable options with their own specific strengths: Bank loans typically offer lower interest rates and higher loan appraisal value, while Pag-IBIG has a longer fixing period and lower processing fees.
For this episode of My Two Cents, we’ll focus on bank loans based on the interest rates on housing loans in the Philippines, starting with the lowest interest rate to the highest.
Before we start though, here are some things to note. First, the interest rate of housing loans in the Philippines changes, depending on how much you’re borrowing from the bank. And as to how much you can actually borrow from the bank, this is defined by the “margin of finance” or the percentage of the property value they’re willing to loan you. Also, the loan tenure, which is the period of time you’re given to pay back the bank, differs per bank, with some extending their tenure to up to 30 years.
There are a lot of factors that go into choosing what bank to apply for a housing loan, so we’ve listed some main points of the banks down below to help you find the best housing loan for you:
1| HSCBC Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 4.99 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P700,000
Maximum loan amount: P50 million
Minimum loan tenure: 5 years
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
2| Security Bank Home Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.25 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P1 million
Maximum loan amount: P100 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
3| BPI Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.25 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P400,000
Maximum loan amount: 70 percent of appraised value of house and lot; 60 percent of appraised value of vacant lot and residential condominium; 80 percent of appraised value of house and lot that does not exceed P5 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 25 years
4| Metrobank Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.50 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P500,000
Maximum loan amount: P100 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Minimum loan tenure: 25 years
5| RCBC Savings Bank Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.50 percent
Margin of finance: 70 percent
Minimum loan amount: P300,000
Maximum loan amount: P5 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
6| Eastwest Bank Home Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.50 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P500,000
Maximum loam amount: P10 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 30 years
7| BDO Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.50 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P500,000
Maximum loan amount: P100 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
8| PNB Sure Home Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.75 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P200,000
Maximum loan amount: 80 percent of appraised value of property
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
9| Chinabank HomePlus Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 5.75 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P500,000
Maximum loan amount: P25 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 25 years
10| Maybank Home Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 6.00 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P800,000
Maximum loan amount: 80 percent of appraised value of property
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
11| Chinatrust Housing Loan Fixed Rate
Lowest interest rate available: 5.75 percent
Margin of finance: 80 percent
Minimum loan amount: P500,000
Maximum loan amount: P25 million
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
12| Union Bank Housing Loan
Lowest interest rate available: 6.00 percent
Margin of finance: 90 percent
Minimum loan amount: P500,000
Maximum loan amount: 90 percent of appraised value of property
Minimum loan tenure: 1 year
Maximum loan tenure: 20 years
Finding the right bank that works for you is important, but it would be best to have one or two backup banks in case your application isn’t approved. The screening process of loan applications is strict, to say the least, so we suggest choosing one or two housing loans in the Philippines to err on the safe side so you can get that dream home you’ve been saving up for.
