Exit ING. While it has made real estate credit one of its loss leaders since 2015, the online bank is withdrawing from the French market. BforBank, Boursorama, Fortuneo and Monabanq therefore remain among the online banks offering home loans. And their rates are going up!
In online banks, the real estate credit game is played on the ground of the APR (1). The what? Annual percentage rate of charge, deemed to represent the overall cost of a loan, with insurance, guarantee, administration fees, etc Online banks each use a standard folder to be able to display an APR. This rate obviously does not apply to all customers, but it serves as a call rate to attract them. But even this promotional APR goes up!
Fortuneo recently raised its APR from 1.38% to 1.47%, an all-inclusive rate valid for a loan of 200,000 euros over 15 years. Boursorama raised its call rate in February – for 350,000 euros over 20 years – from 1.10% to 1.51%. Finally, BforBank assumes, at the beginning of March, a rebound of 1.63% to 2.12% of its APR – for 350,000 euros over 25 years -, exceeding the 2% mark, a rate much higher than all that the candidates the loan can currently read on mortgages. The rates are certainly on the upward slope but not rising as quickly! Among the online banks, only Monabanq has a very attractive APR, 0.98% for a loan of 200,000 euros over 15 years. Problem: like Hello bank, Monabanq does not allow borrowing rates to be simulated without initiating a loan application.
Real estate credit and online banking: for whom, for what?
How to compare online bank rates
The online banks Fortuneo, BforBank and Boursorama, just like ING before it stopped offering new loans, allow you to simulate your mortgage in a few minutes, without having to provide personal documents. Convenient to be able to compare online banks on the basis of nominal rates, the same as those communicated by brokers, while the APRs above are incomparable.
Verdict, taking for example a real estate purchase of 250,000 euros, with a personal contribution of 50,000 euros – therefore a credit of 200,000 euros – for a couple of 30-year-old borrowers earning between them 4500euros per month. If they want to go into debt on 20 yearsthese two borrowers obtain 1.38% at Fortuneo, 1.75% at Boursorama and 1.80% at BforBank. On 15 years oldthe best online bank for this couple is Boursorama with 1.55%. And on 25 yearsthe most interesting rate is on the side of Fortuneo with 1.47%.
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In any case, the rates announced by these online banks for this standard file are very uncompetitive compared to the rates charged by traditional banks or through a broker. Even over a long period, 25 years, the reference observatory Crédit Logement-CSA estimates that a rate of 1.42% concerns the worst cases at the start of 2022, the best can still hope today to fall below the bar. 1% over 25 years. And this while these online banks have long been among the highest bidders in this highly competitive mortgage market.
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(1) Annual effective annual rate, indicator taking into account all the additional costs of a loan (borrower insurance, guarantee, application fees, etc.), and not just the nominal rate of the mortgage.