Real estate credit: the parameters that can unlock a somewhat tight file

The Banque de France and banking establishments are also working on a mediation mechanism for files that have been refused, despite their apparent solvency.

Increase your intake

The first way is to limit the amount to borrow. To maintain an identical budget, it will be necessary to mechanically increase its contribution, that is to say the sum of money - often the result of savings - that the credit candidate puts into the project.

“The way in which the most tangent files are saved today is through recourse to family generosity,” Olivier Lendrevie, former president of the Cafpi broker network, explains to AFP.

To finance the purchase of the main residence, borrowers can also draw on their company savings plans (PEE) or their retirement savings plans (PER), under certain conditions.

Play on insurance

Establishments ask borrowers to take out insurance to cover themselves in cases where they are not able to repay their loan (disability, death).

Each bank will tend to push its own insurance company but nothing obliges the borrower to subscribe to it.

“We must make the most of free competition in terms of insurance,” underlines Mr. Lendrevie, made easier since the adoption of the Lemoine Law in 2022, which allows real estate borrowers to change insurance free of charge and at any time.

The loan applicant can also play on the guarantees and limit them only to the mandatory guarantees that the bank requires in order to lower the rating.

Pay off your debts

To determine the amount of credit, the bank calculates an effort rate based on its client's income, that is to say the portion of their income that they can devote each month to repaying their loan.

This share cannot exceed 35%, according to the criteria of the High Financial Stability Council (HCSF), reaffirmed in December.

Any credit already in progress, such as consumer credit for example, contributes to increasing the monthly charges recorded by the banker.

It may therefore be wise, even if it means reducing your contribution a little, to repay existing debts early to have greater debt capacity.

Track help of all kinds

Loan candidates can also take a look at the advantages and systems available to them, depending on their profile.

The zero-interest loan (PTZ), for example, allows certain households, mainly first-time buyers, to limit the cost of financing their main residence in new buildings and if they carry out work notably improving energy performance in old buildings. .

Banks may also be required to make a commercial gesture towards first-time buyers, testifies Côme Robet, president of the professional association CNCEF Crédit, by granting a credit line "of 10 or 15.000 euros" at a very low rate, in below 1%.

This line of credit only comes in parallel with the main line of credit, at the market rate, and makes it possible to limit the cost of credit a little, and therefore to increase the borrower's budget.