Scottish Widows Bank, the mortgage and savings arm of Lloyds TSB, has launched its Own Overseas re-mortgage product, offering flexible mortgage services for UK residents wishing to purchase property in Spain.
The service is open to both current and new Spanish holiday homeowners, providing a competitive alternative to Scottish Widows Bank’s existing Spanish mortgage offering.
Customers who wish to re-mortgage to Own Overseas will be given the choice of adding the valuation fees and fulfillment to the loan. Customers will be asked to pay the stamp duty fee, while Scottish Widows will pay the notary and registry fees.
A tiered fee structure is also in place, along with a new tiered rate for customers taking out a variable rate euro or sterling mortgage.
The service follows findings by Datamonitor in its 2004 Buying Property Abroad report, which discovered that over half a million UK citizens owned Spanish holiday homes, indicating a large market for the mortgage group to target.
Despite the significant size of the market, re-mortgaging isn’t common in Spain – largely due to a lack of attractive re-mortgaging packages from lenders, commented Gordon Bowden, business development director at Scottish Widows Bank. Customers will also benefit from the familiarity of dealing with a UK-based lender who will help to navigate them through every aspect of the process.