Can I request a renegotiation of my mortgage credit?

Need help contacting the bank to renegotiate your home loan? The credit intermediaries at Poupança no Minuto can help you with negotiating the terms, taking care of all the paperwork. For more information on renegotiating a home loan, we will explain.

How to request the renegotiation of my housing credit?

If you realize that you do not have the financial capacity to meet the monthly payments of your home loan, or need some relief in your monthly budget, you can request a renegotiation of the contract.  

With the rise of the Euribor and the consequent increase in variable rate loan payments, many Portuguese people have been struggling to keep up. Renegotiating the loan conditions can help save on this expense.

The first step to request a renegotiation of the home loan is to contact your bank, which offers solutions to lower your debt-to-income ratio.  

What are the new conditions that you can propose to me?

The bank evaluates each case individually, to find housing credit conditions that help lower installments. But it can propose conditions such as: .

• A bonus on the spread, in exchange for subscribing to other products associated with credit.
• Extending the financing period, and you can always return to the originally contracted term.
• A capital forbearance period, where only interest is charged.
• And a capital deferral, delaying a portion of the debt until the end of the contract.  

Relationship between spread and cost.

You should note that in order to lower your spread, the bank usually makes a counteroffer to contract other associated products, such as a credit card.

In other words, to access a bonus on the spread, you may have to adhere to other credit conditions.

To understand if it is worth it, always do the calculations beforehand. For example, if you have the required insurance for the credit in an insurance company other than the bank's, and the bank asks you to transfer the insurance to their insurance company in exchange for a decrease in the spread, be aware that it may not be worth it.

The savings gained from a lower insurance premium can be higher than what would be gained from a lower spread.

So, when it comes to lowering the spread, you should always pay attention to what the bank asks for in return.

New measure forces banks to renegotiate contracts.

In 2023, an exceptional measure is in force for credit contracts intended for own and permanent housing, with a variable rate and an outstanding amount up to 300 thousand euros.

The measure requires that, whenever there is a significant increase in the effort rate up to 36% in these credit contracts, due to the rise of the Euribor, banks must renegotiate the conditions. In order to lower the effort rate, banking institutions must make a new proposal to their respective customers.

During this measure, customers can also renegotiate credit conditions at https://www.poupancanominuto.com/ with:

• A monthly effort rate equal to or greater than 36%, with a 5% increase in the last year.
• A effort rate equal to or above 36%, with an increase greater than 3% in the associated interest rate.
• A debt-to-income ratio equal to or greater than 36% in the last update of the installment;  
• All those who already have a debt-to-income ratio equal to or greater than 50%.  

In order to confirm the current effort rate of a credit holder, the bank may request the latest IRS statement of the household. Therefore, customers must submit the statement within 10 days.  

Am I obliged to accept the bank's renegotiation?

You are not required to accept the bank's renegotiation proposed under the exceptional measure explained above. However, you must ensure that you continue to make the monthly payments on your home loan. 

If you accept the renegotiation proposal, no commissions or increase in the interest rate can be charged to you.

You should know that, by accepting the bank's renegotiation, it is recorded in the Bank of Portugal's credit responsibility central as a credit at risk of default. In other words, if you need to contract a new credit again, any bank will know and may consider you a risky client.

If you want to renegotiate the terms of your home loan, you can use a credit intermediary Poupança no Minuto. They mediate between you and the bank, helping in negotiating the best conditions and handling all the paperwork, for free.

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