Can foreigners take advantage of the “Safe Loan 2 percent”? The resort responds

Recall that on July 3. the “Safe Loan 2 percent” program was launched. The program can be used by people who have not turned 45 on the date of submitting the loan application, and in the case of people running a household together, it is enough that one of them is under the age of 45 (unless both will be parties to this loan agreement). A person taking out a housing loan and persons forming part of his household before the date of granting the loan will not be able to hold the ownership right to a flat or a single-family house. The program provides for subsidies to the loan for 10 years, so that the interest rate on the liability throughout this period it was at the level of 2% plus the bank’s margin.

Foreigners can take advantage of the “Safe Loan 2 percent”?

The amount of the “Safe 2% loan” may not exceed PLN 500,000 or – if the borrower runs a household together with his spouse or has at least one child – PLN 600,000. Own contribution may not be higher than PLN 200,000.

The Ministry of Development and Technology is responsible for the implementation of the programme. The Polish Press Agency asked the ministry whether foreigners could join the program. – Foreigners may apply for a safe 2% loan if they meet the criteria of the Act on family housing loans and a safe 2% loan, and also the conditions of Art. 6.1. the Act of 23 March 2017 on mortgage loans and supervision of mortgage brokers and agents. According to them, “A mortgage loan may only be granted in or indexed to the currency in which the consumer earns most of his income or holds most of his financial resources or other assets valued in the currency of the mortgage loan or the currency to which the mortgage loan is indexed” – reports the press department of the Ministry of Development and Technology.

Due to the fact that the “Safe Credit 2%” is granted in accordance with the Act only in the Polish currency, it means that “foreigners who earn most of their income in PLN and thus pay taxes in Poland can apply for it” .

According to the Ministry’s data as of August 1. shows that on the total of approx. 20,000 loan applications, approx. 1 percent. came from foreigners. Most of them – as indicated by information from some banks – from citizens of Ukraine. The ministry points out that “data on Ukrainian citizens in the total number of foreigners are, as a rule, not collected by banks in the systems, however, based on the information provided by some banks, it can be assumed that Ukrainian citizens constitute approx. 70 percent of the above-mentioned number of foreigners joining the program”. The ministry also states that approx. 15 percent. of Ukrainian citizens join the program together with a Polish citizen (the child’s spouse or other parent).

Who owns real estate abroad can apply for a loan?

The Ministry was also asked whether owning real estate abroad is not an obstacle to applying for a “Safe Loan 2 percent”. – People with real estate abroad can join the program – the Ministry of Development and Technology replies, emphasizing that “providing such information is not required when applying for a loan (so such data is not collected).