My mortgage

Here is my mortgage negotiation experience in Germany:

In my first visit to bank S, the bank consultant was friendly, and treated me like a fool (well, I probably was one). She explained to me patiently in simple terms, what factors influence the interest rate. I've asked many stupid questions. I just didn't know how a mortgage work in Germany. At the end, she offered me 1.99% and wrote on the print-out: "this is a *special offer*". Politely, I told her I need more time to investigate about different mortgage offers, and I was not in any hurry to make a decision.

Next, I visited bank D. A very professional consultant. In fact, the only consultant among the 5 I've talked to, who could name me the correct special repayment option for the KFW 153 credit program. She was also very patient in answering my questions. I began to master all the mortgage related german vocabularies. At the end, she gave me a few brochures to take home, and offered a rate of 2.3%, and farewelled me sarcastically, "I hope I will see you again". Of course at 2.3%, no one would see me again...

Then I phoned bank C, because my internet bank comparison shows this bank offered the lowest interest rate of 1.33%. I filled in the online form, called the hotline, called the Aachen branch... No one called me back. After my repeated attempts, finally a guy on the hotline set-up an appointment for me. However, when I went to the bank, the consultant didn't appear, and the local branch didn't have any record of my appointment! The staff made another appointment and sent me home with a printed appointment record.

Then I went to a credit institute across just 1 street. Now I have mastered all the vocabularies, and probably didn't sound so dumb any more. But I didn't know how a credit institute works, especially how can I get a lower rate via an "agent". The consultant answered my different questions. He asked for every detail of my financial situation, and even asked me to fill in a Schufa form. I told him, I have not made up my mind yet, and would rather not giving so much personal details. The other day, he sent me a "best" offer of 1.4%. I wrote him back: thanks and bye bye. One probably can't get the best offer via an agent!

Afterwards, I tried my house bank, online bank DK. Friendly consultant, efficient contact, best offered conditions with the most flexibility. 10% special repayment per year, and 2 times free of charge change of repayment ratio. The consultant told me 1.5X% is standard, and if I could show him a better offer from another bank, there is some room of negotiation to 1.4X%, but not any lower. This might have been "the offer" if the bank wasn't purely online.

Then I went to bank C again. This time the consultant appeared and apologized for missing the last appointment. A tall and handsome guy. Rather patient. But wasn't able to tell me the KFW special payment option without googling it on the web. He told me I knew what my ideal mortgage plan was. In fact, after all these bank appointments, I learnt that I needed no bank consultants to give me often inaccurate information. "Google is my best friend". He offered me that 1.33%. At first, I thought this was "the offer". At the end, I didn't choose this bank, because the consultant was poorly reachable via phone / email.

Next I came across the term "Wohn-Riester", and made another appointment with bank S to inform myself what this "Wohn-Riester" program is about. I got an appointment with a different consultant, which I was pretty happy about. I definitely did not want to meet the "1.99% special offer" consultant again. To my big surprise, I met a different consultant together with the same consultant. They told me, this same consultant is responsible for customers going to evening appointments. They explained to me about this program, and honestly I had not a single clue about. At the end, I told them might be I'd think about the Wohn-Riester program, but I'd not choose their 1.99% offer. I got a much better 1.33% offer elsewhere. From this point of time, the dramatic change happened. Suddenly, they were afraid of losing a customer, and would try to give me a comparable offer, at 1.4X%.

Considering the 0.5% that I could negotiate off with my poor german at bank S, I'm proud of myself and very happy with the outcome.