mortgage

The premium for the National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) is decreasing from 0.9 percent to 0.7 percent of the total home-loan beginning next year, resulting in savings of up to 620 euros for eligible buyers. The maximum price for homes eligible for the NHG is also increasing, from 290 thousand euros this year to 310 thousand euros next year, Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs announced in a letter to parliament.

Many cancer survivors are refused life insurance policies, which are usually mandatory when taking out a mortgage. The Dutch federation for cancer patient organizations NFK is therefore calling on politicians to amend the law so that cancer survivors will not be judged on their medical history when such an application is assessed, NU.nl reports.

The disposable income of Dutch households increased by 2.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, mainly thanks to an increase in jobs and hours worked, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday. 

Adjusted for price increases, Dutch workers received 1.8 percent more salary in the first quarter than in the same quarter last year. The number of employee jobs increased by 2.5 percent and the number of hours worked increased by 1.6 percent. 

Dozens of new laws, rules, and regulations went into effect in the Netherlands at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday. Among them, a cut to the 30-percent ruling, new income tax credits, mortgage caps, a sales tax increase, expanded childcare subsides, and more rights for cities to seize homes related to the illegal drugs trade.

Tens of thousands of Rabobank customers were met with a nasty shock on Saturday. Their savings mortgage payments were deducted twice. This happened due to human error and the amounts have since been refunded, a spokesperson for the bank said to NOS.

This concerned customers with a so-called build-up mortgage. The mistake resulted in many Rabobank customers starting the expensive December in the red, they complained on social media. 

Around 30 thousand ING and Volksbank clients are getting money back from their bank. These involve homeowners who paid too much on their mortgage between 2011 and 2016 or who had their interest adjusted, and therefore had to pay a too high penalty interest, RTL Nieuws reports.

The banks calculated a penalty interest on the adjustment due to lost interest income. But complaints revealed that the calculation of the penalty interest was always in the favor of the bank. Banks are allowed to impose a penalty interest, but it may not exceed the actual damage that they suffer.

A marathon debate akin to the American style filibuster is starting in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, on Tuesday. Parliamentarians asked for over 36 hours of talk time to debate the abolition of the so-called Hillen law - a law that gives tax credit to mortgages that have been repaid or almost repaid. The idea behind this marathon debate is to stall the abolition of this law, RTL Nieuws reports.

The PVV requested 1,200 minutes of speaking time, 50Plus wants 900 minutes. Other parties requested no more than 30 minutes.

The interest rate in the Netherlands for a mortgage with a fixed term period of 30 years dropped below the 3 percent mark for the first time, the Hypotheekshop announced on Tuesday. On average, the interest rate for a 30 years fixed interest mortgage is now 2.99 percent, the Telegraaf reports.

That means that the average 30-year rate is now at the same level as the 5-year rate was in 2014, and as the 10 to 20-year rate was in 2015.

An increasing number of Dutch homes are being bought without a mortgage, according to the Land Registry. Last year almost a third of the apartments sold in the Netherlands were bought in cash, NOS reports.

In the large Dutch cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, about 25 percent of houses were bought without a mortgage. In student cities like Delft, Groningen and Maastricht, 30 percent were bought in cash. Last year mortgage-free buyers spent 8.6 billion euros on homes, 16 percent of the total money spent on mortgages. In 2011 it was 4 billion euros. 

Home buyers with a mortgage that has a longer fixed interest rate period are often misled by the so-called moving scheme, according to the own home association VEH. New buyers who sign a mortgage with National Mortgage Guarantee and an interest rate period of 20 or 30 years, get duped when the move to a home that is not eligible for the National Mortgage Guarantee, the VEH said on Tuesday, NU.nl reports.

The association examined the moving conditions of 35 mortgage providers and concluded that clients of ING, bijBouwe, Allianz and Hypotrust Goede Start all fall into this trap. 

ABN Amro suspended nine employees suspected of forgery on mortage files, the Financieele Dagblad reports. According to the newspaper, the employees are suspected copying signatures of customers onto modified mortgage advice in order to close the file. This was done without the customers' consent.