BANKERS HAVE suggested that during the current economic downturn, self-employed people and those with monthly incomes lower than Bt20,000 regularly deposit some of their income with banks for at least 12 months, which will make it more likely to win approval when they apply for housing loans.
The self-employed, especially those running small businesses, have been facing higher rejection rates from banks when applying for mortgages as the lenders are conscious of credit risk in this segment.
Speaking at a seminar held by the Housing Finance Association on Tuesday, Bangkok Bank senior vice president Pimonporn Poolnapol said salaried workers were able to access loans more easily than the selfemployed because they have regular incomes that the banks can check.
Self-employed individuals who plan to apply for a housing loan should prepare themselves for six to 12 months. To show that their income is steady, they should deposit money regularly for at least 12 months.
The outstanding balance of selfemployed people is important. If it is small, banks might require more information from loan applicants such as their investment assets, as these customers might be using their profit to invest in mutual funds, stocks or fixed deposits.
Self-employed people who use credit cards should also inform the banks of this when applying for loans,as well as their commitments to longterm instalment plans.
Pikul Srimahunt, head of mort-gage and small-business products at Siam Commercial Bank, said banks in fact had not tightened conditions,but customers had higher debt-service ratios than the banks' requirements.
People applying for a mortgage should not have debt-service ratios above 50 per cent of their income,something to which the selfemployed and those earning less than Bt20,000 a month are particularly susceptible, she said.
Salaried people with monthly incomes over Bt25,000 are an attractive segment for banks, so they have more bargaining power for negotiating a good loan agreement, she said.
Pikul said small and mediumsized enterprises that are not strong enough amid the economic uncertainty were finding it difficult to access loans. Each bank has to be cautious about granting housing loans to this segment because mortgages have the longest terms of any kind of lending,sometimes 20-30 years, which means banks have to ensure that those borrowers have the discipline to make it through the term of the loan.
She said every bank had experts at their branches to provide consultation to customers, and those hoping to apply for a mortgage should make use of these services to make sure they are well prepared.
Alongkot Boonmasuk, head of housing loans and marketing at Kasikornbank, suggested that borrowers avoid buying homes in poor locations,as banks give consideration to the quality of such assets when granting mortgages in case they have to be sold in the future.
Bangkok Bank executive vice president Taweelarp Rittapirom said the bank had become more cautious about lending to the self-employed as their incomes could be more volatile than those of people on regular salaries.
Some property developers have told the banks that new projects launched this year have been seeing relatively slow sales and that some buyers have postponed taking delivery of their homes.
Sales of medium-priced homes have been slow, but lower-priced projects in prime zones such as Bang Yai in Nonthaburi province have had good feedback from buyers. However,because of the current economic uncertainty, Bangkok Bank might adjust its loan-growth target for this year.
Housing loans at Bangkok Bank in the first half grew by 4 per cent, a little lower than the target.