BPI Family Savings teams up with Robinsons Land on housing loans

Written by Erik de la Cruz / Reporter

Wednesday, 31 March 2010 19:14

BPI Family Savings Bank (BFSB), the thrift bank unit of Bank of the Philippine Islands, has partnered with Robinsons Land Corp. in offering what they describe as the best financing deals for prospective home buyers. BFSB and RLC officials on Tuesday announced their partnership and the deals they will offer between now and June, and painted an upbeat outlook for the local housing sector. Alfonso Salcedo Jr., president and chief executive officer of BFSB, said demand for home loans remained “strong” and that he continued to expect the bank’s housing loan portfolio to grow between 10 percent and 15 percent this year. “We’re well within that projection. The pipeline looks very encouraging,” he said at a news briefing. Frederick Go, president and CEO of Robinsons Land, said demand in the property sector was still coming from the retail and residential segments. “I really see a good [year] for the property industry as a whole,” he told reporters. Property developers remain aggressive in building homes given the housing backlog in the Philippines, and target in particular those cash-rich overseas Filipinos. After the success of its Housing Madness promo in Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, where it brought together developers under one roof to offer special home-financing deals, BFSB will hold a similar event this time with Robinsons Land, from April 9 to 11 at Robinsons Place Manila and Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas. Robinsons Land will exhibit more than 20 projects during the event. Jocelyn Sta. Ana, BFSB senior vice president and head of retail mortgage division, said the bank will offer “very competitive” interest rates of as low as 8.0 percent to home-loan applicants. That rate applies on the first year of the loan, while a fixed rate of 8.75 percent is applicable over the subsequent years for a five-year loan. The bank can extend a loan equivalent to up to 80 percent of the net selling price of the housing unit, depending on the buyer’s capability to pay. Processing of loan application can take up to five days if all documents required are presented. Such rates, according to Sta. Ana, are more attractive compared with regular published rates for a five-year loan, which are usually as high as 9.5 percent applicable on the first year and 10.25 percent for the next four years. Prospective home buyers can apply for loans with maturities of five, 10, 15, 20, or as long as 25 years. Salcedo said prospective buyers of Robinsons Land units can avail themselves of loans from BFSB until June. He said local interest rates were expected to go up in the second half of the year, when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is widely expected to tighten its monetary policy through hikes in policy rates. Robinsons Land, Go said, will also offer discounted prices to prospective buyers.