CIMB Thai offers lowest mortage rate

“We have seen an opportunity to acquire a new generation of consumers who want to choose which residential project they buy in, and not be restricted to a particular project that offers a special campaign,” she said.
Most mortgage lenders offer attractive rates at the beginning of the term but the interest is increased after the first three years.
Showing customers what EIR they can expect for the full term of a mortgage can help customers compare the rates.
In the Thai banking system, more than half of housing loans are held by borrowers who pay 6-per-cent interest on average after the fixed rate for the first three years ends, she said. Onanong said CIMBT was offering special rates at 5.15 per cent per annum for the first three years and EIR at 5.83 per cent for customers who don’t have to buy mortgage reducing term assurance and 4.15 per cent for the first three years and EIR at 5.73 per cent for customers who buy MRTA.
The rates are lowest in the market, and if the programme receives good feedback, CIMBT will consider running it long-term, she said.
CIMBT targets customers who have monthly incomes of Bt30,000 buying a home for about Bt2 million.
Consumers in major provinces know CIMBT well, and make up the majority of the bank’s new borrowers.
Onanong said second-tier provinces and Bangkok were a challenge for CIMBT, because new borrowers in those areas are the focus of major commercial banks and the state-owned banks.
CIMBT expects the “lowest EIR” programme to attract new mortgages of Bt2 billion to Bt3 billion by the end of this year, helping the bank achieve its 2015 new-loan target of Bt15 billion.
For the first six months, the bank has targeted new housing loans of Bt7.5 billion, but Onanong said it might miss this target by Bt500 million because consumers do not have much confidence in the economy.