Housing loans and you: A quick primer

After trawling through hundreds of online ads, talking to several condo agents on the street, and asking for suggestions on your Facebook news feed, you finally found your dream house. Now, all you have to do is come up with the money. While some people can afford to throw down cold, hard cash and buy the property outright, most of us will have to rely on good old housing loans. Thankfully, banks in the Philippines are taking note of the rising trend in home owning, and have made housing loans more flexible and affordable for the everyday Pinoy.

Housing loans are very easy to apply for, but you’ll have to spend some time preparing all the necessary documents you’ll need before you even get to the bank. While most banks require the same documents from borrowers, they do have their slight differences. If, for example, you are buying a house with your spouse, you might need to submit a copy of your marriage contract, as well as two government-issued IDs apiece. This is specifically for those taking out loans from BDO, PNB, BPI, Chinabank, and Unionbank. Additionally, BPI and PNB have separate application forms for co-borrowers.