The law gives you
ten days. Most people
use none of them.
Primor Préstamos SL lends from Calle Zurbano in Madrid, secured on property, under the framework the Spanish legislation on real estate credit contracts establishes.
That framework exists because of what came before it: floor clauses, index disputes, and costs allocated to borrowers who never saw them itemised. The response was to build a pre-contractual process with documents, a waiting period and a notary appointment that costs the borrower nothing.
Almost nobody uses it properly. The documents arrive, the days pass, the notary explains, and the borrower nods because the flat is waiting. So this page is about that process rather than about us.
Two documents you are owed
before anything is signed
They are standardised on purpose, so that two offers from two lenders can be laid side by side and compared line for line. That is their entire function, and it only works if you actually put them next to each other.
The standardised information sheet
The binding pre-contractual summary of the loan: amount, term, instalments, the rate and how it may change, and the costs. Standardised format, so the same line means the same thing at every lender. Read the section on variation of the rate twice.
The standardised warnings sheet
The separate sheet setting out the clauses and risks that most warrant your attention — the ones that have historically caused disputes. It is short. It is also the single most useful page in the entire file.
Read these four things in particular
How the interest rate can move. If it is variable, what it is linked to, how often it resets, and what your instalment would be if it rose materially. Ask for that figure rather than imagining it.
Whether there is a floor on the rate. A lower limit below which your rate will not fall, however the index behaves. This is the clause that generated years of Spanish litigation.
Who pays which costs. Valuation, notary, registry, administrative agency, tax. Have each one attributed in writing before signing, not discovered at completion.
What products are bundled. Insurance or accounts sold alongside the loan are separate decisions with separate prices. Ask what the rate would be without them, and whether you may buy the insurance elsewhere.
The sequence, in order
Simplified, and the shape is what matters. Every step below exists to put time and a professional between an offer and your signature.
What the notary visit is actually for
Borrowers treat it as a formality because it is presented as one. It is the one moment in the whole process where a qualified professional who is not selling you anything is obliged to explain the document.
What we lend
Loans and credit secured on Spanish property, under the framework governing real estate credit contracts, with the full pre-contractual process followed rather than abbreviated.
Where a defined gap has an identified source of repayment. Where the exit is uncertain, a secured short-term loan enlarges the problem and attaches a deadline to it.
Only where the total cost genuinely falls and the earlier facilities close. Otherwise it is an additional debt secured on your home, which is a considerably worse thing than an unsecured one.
Applications where the instalment cannot realistically be serviced, and anything where the borrower has not had the documentation and the time the process requires.
On rates, plainly
No rate is published on this page, because any single figure would be wrong for nearly everyone reading it. What you will receive is the standardised documentation with the annual equivalent rate and the full cost of the loan, in writing, with time to read it. Compare that figure — not the monthly instalment — against every other offer you hold.
Loans secured on property put that property at risk. If repayments are not made, the security is what answers for the debt. We would rather write a smaller loan than a larger one that fails.
Questions
i.Can I waive the reflection period to move faster?
You should not want to. The period exists because signing a mortgage quickly is how people end up with clauses they did not understand. If a seller or an agent is pressing you to compress it, the pressure is about their timetable, and the flat that is worth having is worth ten days.
ii.Does the notary work for the lender?
No — and you are generally entitled to choose the notary. The role at the pre-contractual stage is to explain the terms to you and to verify that the process was followed. The visit for that explanation costs you nothing, which is worth knowing because many borrowers assume it is billable and therefore rush it.
iii.Must I buy the insurance the lender offers?
Ask two questions: what the rate would be without the bundled product, and whether you may take equivalent cover from another provider. Insurance attached to a loan is a separate purchase with a separate price, and it should be compared separately.
iv.What about early repayment?
Ask, before signing, what repaying early or in part would cost at various points in the term. Spanish law limits compensation for early repayment in defined circumstances, but the figure that matters is the one in your own contract. Get it in writing at the start rather than when you want to use it.
v.Someone offered to arrange a loan from you for a fee paid up front.
Treat it as false until you have telephoned the number on this page yourself. Be extremely cautious with any request to transfer money to a personal account or to pay in order to unlock an approval. That request is the standard shape of a fraud rather than an aggressive sales practice.
vi.Should I try a bank first?
For a straightforward purchase with clean title and stable income, generally yes — bank credit is usually cheaper and we will say so. Lenders such as ourselves earn a place where the timing or the circumstances do not fit a bank's process, not as a substitute for a mortgage a bank would have written.
Contact directly
Tell us what is being financed, what secures it and your timing. If you are inside a purchase with a deadline, say so — it changes the advice rather than the price.
28010 Madrid