How to legally avoid paying your mortgage for several months

The method outlined below allows you to defer the first mortgage payments for a new building for a period of 1 to 5 months. This can be useful when investing in new buildings in order to reduce investments and increase interest rates.

How should the process of purchasing an apartment proceed according to Federal Law 214 with a mortgage:

You book an apartment (this step may be missing). As a rule, by depositing a small amount of money you can secure an apartment and maintain the conditions for purchasing an apartment for 1-2 weeks.
You enter into an agreement with the developer
Make your down payment on your mortgage. Usually it is 10-20% of the cost of the apartment.
You go to the bank and sign a mortgage agreement.
Bring the mortgage agreement to the developer
The shared construction agreement is sent for registration to the Federal Service for State Registration of Cadastre and Cartography or, otherwise, to Rosreestr.
After no more than 18 days, the agreement is registered, after which you need to come to the bank and finally approve the payment schedule.
On the same day, the bank transfers money to the developer and it is from this day that you begin to pay the mortgage.

That is, if we want to avoid paying the first mortgage payments for as long as possible, the task comes down to stretching out these 6 steps as much as possible. Since, until the bank transfers money to the developer, you do not owe him anything and you do not have to pay money for the mortgage, and he will transfer the money only when all other documents are in order.

So, point by point, where to tighten what and how:

Trip to the bank (2 weeks)

After the agreement with the developers is concluded, you need to go to the bank and sign a preliminary mortgage agreement. Often, the equity participation agreement specifies specific deadlines within which you need to come to the bank; if they are specified, then we arrive on the last day

Here there is an opportunity to stretch the rubber a little more by saying that you will not be able to go to the bank within the specified time frame; for example, you can hide behind an emergency business trip. As a rule, the developer meets you halfway without any questions and waits for several weeks while you settle your affairs and go to the bank.

How to reduce mortgage payments?

After the borrower has taken out a loan and issued a mortgage, a month later the first payment of the established payment occurs. From this date on, you can consider alternative options to reduce your mortgage payments.

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Types of payments for mortgage lending

The size of the fees always depends on the type of loan the borrower took out. There are several most profitable types of payment:

Demarcated or otherwise called differentiated . Taking into account high inflation, this option is one of the most profitable. When calculating interest, the balance of the principal debt on the loan is taken into account. Therefore, the borrower pays less interest year after year. The main advantage of this type is the minimum overpayment on the loan. There are also disadvantages. This type of interest-based lending requires a large down payment.
Annuity. This is a type of payment in which the loan amount and interest on it are paid gradually in the same amount. In this option, most of the amount is interest on the entire loan. In this case, the amount of the first and last installment will be the same.

Ways to reduce your mortgage payment

One popular way to reduce the loan amount is refinancing .

This term refers to the process of obtaining another loan to pay off an existing loan, but on more favorable terms. In other words, this is a new loan to pay off an old one.

Many people use it to reduce their mortgage payments. This option is beneficial if the new loan has a lower interest rate than the current one. But be prepared for the fact that the bank will agree to exchange your mortgage only if you were a bona fide borrower and did not make any delays on the loan.

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If the borrower decides to refinance , then he can take out a new loan from another bank.

Before making a decision, the borrower must find out whether it will be profitable or not. If he receives only a 1-3 percent reduction in the rate, spending more time and effort, then this operation will not be very profitable.

Another condition for successful refinancing is the loan repayment period. If it increases, then the only advantage of this operation will be a reduction in the monthly premium.

How to save money when taking out a mortgage loan?

During the mortgage lending process, the borrower can save a lot on insurance . This can be done by choosing an insurance company not on the recommendation of the bank, but any other of your choice, where the conditions are more favorable.

Another option is a property deduction . With it, you can return 13 percent of the amounts paid when purchasing a home (but not more than two million rubles).

The return process is not simple - it requires registration and submission of many documents to the tax authority and only applies to the working population with official wages.

It is worth considering that when refinancing, the borrower loses the right to a tax deduction, because the new loan will be used as a payment for the old loan, and not for the purchase of property.

To save money, it is important to consider the loan repayment period . A shorter loan repayment period will allow you to get more benefits and significantly lower interest overpayments.

How to get a mortgage for an apartment?

Before studying the intricacies of a mortgage on an apartment and other details that are important, but not paramount, you need to think about whether the borrower, in principle, needs housing and a loan to purchase it. It may well happen that, upon mature reflection, he will abandon seemingly reasonable plans and prefer some other option - who knows at what point and how much circumstances will change.

To take out a mortgage on an apartment, you need to first assess your capabilities.

If there are no other ways to get an apartment, the same mortgage remains - and several preparatory steps leading to it.

Assessing your capabilities

The first step of a future borrower, as clearly follows from the advice of experienced ones, is a thorough, unhurried and preferably comprehensive assessment of one’s own capabilities. This is not only about solvency, although this will be discussed below; now we need to consider the entire set of circumstances, moving from one factor to another and making a conclusion at the end - albeit disappointing, but allowing us to avoid complete collapse.

These factors include:

Conditions for obtaining a loan . Taking them into account, you can calculate the mortgage for an apartment using an online calculator on the website of your favorite financial institution or by coming to the branch in person. The most important conditions are the annual interest rate, the period for which the bank is ready to provide money, the type of payments (annuity or differentiated) and the mandatory down payment. With a little effort, the borrower will be able to take out a mortgage for an apartment without an initial investment, however, for such an opportunity you will have to overpay - which means it is better to show a little patience and save up money for the payment than to overpay on interest later. Moreover, this is usually 15–20% of the required amount - a lot, but still within the reach of a determined person.
Ability to make monthly payments . If the total family income is 30 thousand rubles, of which about 75% is spent on basic needs (food, medicine, rent and utilities), it is hardly worth counting on a mortgage: you will have to pay the remaining 7–8 thousand rubles a month a little or not indefinitely (not taking into account the lack of a “safety cushion”), but taking risks and taking on increased obligations is stupid: at some point the borrower will either face adverse factors that will ultimately lead to disaster, or simply will fall apart.
Estimated cost of housing . On the one hand, it depends on the capabilities of the borrower and the bank’s willingness to provide the required amount; on the other, and this is no less important, it depends on the characteristics of the apartment. Following the advice of experienced people, you should not immediately buy luxury real estate in the city center, especially if you plan to move from a subdivision or one-room apartment that the recipient shares with older relatives; It’s better to move forward little by little - step by step, but certainly without trying to jump over your head.
Apartment category . Depending on the specific offer and your own preferences, you can take out a mortgage on both primary (previously owner-less, including those under construction) and secondary (already owned by someone at the time of signing the contract) housing. The cost of real estate greatly depends on these factors - as well as on the infrastructure of the area, the presence of nearby medical, educational institutions, supermarkets, stops or metro stations and other details.
Required loan amount . Having saved up money for a down payment and explored the possibilities of borrowing from family and friends, as well as selling something that is not an urgent need, making a contribution to an apartment, the recipient of the funds will be able to determine exactly how much he is missing - this amount (no more and no less ) and should be asked from the bank.

Important: the mortgage loan is a targeted loan - no one will give the borrower money in hand. Thus, it is not recommended to take too much - the resulting gap will only be a new problem, and not an opportunity to arrange repairs or purchase household appliances.

Selecting a financial institution

Having decided on his capabilities and calculated approximately how much money is missing to buy an apartment, the future borrower can begin choosing a bank. As at the previous stage, an integrated approach is needed here: applying for a mortgage simply because one financial institution has a lower interest rate or down payment is unwise. Typically, these advantages are compensated, or even outweighed, by the disadvantages of the mortgage program - and in order not to regret in the future and not look for ways to terminate the loan agreement, it is better to study all the factors.

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Factors that determine the lender's offer and are of paramount importance include:

Annual interest rate . Of course, the smaller it is, the better for the payer; on the other hand, a reduced rate will inevitably be associated with a number of unpleasant conditions - not a single bank will offer the borrower favorable conditions out of pure altruism. Usually, low interest rates are nothing more than a marketing ploy, but in fact, the lender can not only spoil the picture with other conditions, but also provide for themselves the opportunity to change it over time.
Other interest, fines and penalties . The recipient should ask from the very beginning how much he will have to pay for settlement services, obtaining additional information, clarifying the payment schedule and other services, as well as what penalties are provided by the bank for delays and possible flaws. In the same category you can include the cost of life insurance, health insurance, work insurance and the apartment itself - in accordance with the law, it will not be possible to refuse the latter, which means that you need to take into account unnecessary expenses in advance.
Repayment period for loan obligations . Some banks are ready to provide a mortgage for 25–30 years, understanding that the longer the borrower pays for the apartment, the more money they will receive; others, placing financial security at the forefront, limit the period of final settlement to five to ten years. This factor must be taken into account to a greater extent by a borrower who does not have the opportunity to part with a large sum every month: the less he is able to pay, the longer the mortgage will last.
Type of regular payments . Today banks offer two options: annuity and differentiated payments. The first ones are more convenient from an “operational” point of view: the recipient transfers the same amount to the bank every month, without bothering with calculations or checking the schedule. The second is more practical: first of all, the borrower pays off the loan in equal shares, and interest in this case is secondary. However, it should be taken into account that differentiated payments, gradually decreasing, may initially become simply unaffordable for the buyer of an apartment. To reduce the financial burden, he will have to either extend the repayment period of the debt or reduce the amount.
Requirements for the borrower . The main factors are his official monthly income, the quality of his credit history, his willingness to submit all the necessary documents, the availability of collateral and guarantors, and so on; The greater the totality of positive circumstances, the more willingly the bank will provide borrowed funds - and vice versa. That is why, at the time of selecting a financial institution, you should not settle on one option: you should always have spare ones, so as not to suddenly be faced with the need to hastily look for a new bank. You need to understand that concluding a loan agreement is a mutual process that requires the coincidence of the wills of the lender and the borrower, and do not count on the financial institution’s 100% willingness to risk their money.
Required documents . Some banks are ready to transfer the required amount to the recipient’s account only after presenting them with all sorts of documents - from a passport with a TIN to a certificate of employment and an extract from the work record book; others, including Sberbank and VTB 24, offer a simplified procedure, up to the possibility of taking out a mortgage using two documents, compensating for their risks with an increased interest rate and an increased down payment.
Willingness to work with preferential categories of citizens . If a person has the right to maternity capital, participation in programs for large families and other additional opportunities, he should find a financial institution that agrees to provide money on such conditions. In most cases, these are large banks, although if desired, you can also find smaller structures - it all depends on the capabilities and personal preferences of the potential borrower.

Important: if the apartment has already been looked at and the borrower needs to urgently pay for it in order to prevent outbidding, the bank’s consideration period for the application must also be taken into account. As a rule, the larger the financial institution, the more bureaucracy it has - and vice versa: for example, Sberbank can take more than a week to respond to an applicant, while its smaller counterparts that still retain independence can take three to four days.

Submitting an application and collecting documents

Having studied the conditions offered by banks and selected a leader (or several leaders), you can proceed to filling out the questionnaire and collecting the necessary documents. As a rule, today banks give the user the opportunity to submit an application online by simply entering data in a convenient electronic form and clicking on the “Submit” button or similar.

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This allows you to save time on going to the branch and waiting in line, and also, which is important for many borrowers, eliminate the human factor at first: the result of reviewing the questionnaire will not depend on appearance, speech literacy and other factors that can spoil the impression of a potential borrower .

The form of the online questionnaire and the list of data that should be entered into it are determined by the bank itself and do not depend on the wishes of the sender. It is highly recommended that you fill out all available fields so as not to encounter refusal or additional questions from the financial institution. However, if a small error was made and the applicant agrees to clarify the information, no special difficulties are expected with filing the application.

See also: What is a differentiated loan payment?

The same applies to the list of documents required to take out a mortgage on an apartment. Typically it includes:

passport of a Russian citizen or other document, in accordance with the law, suitable for identification;
a second and sometimes a third document confirming the relevance of the passport: international passport, taxpayer identification number, SNILS (green card), driver’s or pensioner’s license and even military ID;
for men under 27 years of age - a military ID, even if it was not requested on a previous basis; the need to present a military ID is associated with an increased risk for the financial institution: if the borrower is suddenly called up, the payment schedule will shift by at least twelve months;
certificate of income in form 2-NDFL for the period specified by the financial institution - from a quarter (three months) to six months and even a year;
a copy of the work book, certified by the personnel department or by the immediate superior, or an employment contract, regular or fixed-term; taking money under a civil-labor contract is, as a rule, much more difficult, and some banks completely refuse to consider it on an equal basis with an employment contract;
other papers: marriage certificate, consent of the second spouse to the mortgage, birth certificates of children, certificate in form 3-NDFL and even certificates from a psychiatrist and narcologist - everything is determined by the imagination and degree of caution of the lender.

Important: the chances of a borrower agreeing to bring one or two guarantors with him or provide collateral to the bank increase significantly; This should be kept in mind if there is a high probability of being refused a loan. In addition, some financial institutions are ready to reduce the interest rate by several points upon “presentation” of guarantors.

Waiting for a response and searching for an apartment

As already mentioned, the bank’s processing time for an application ranges from three days to more than a week; The applicant will be notified of the decision by telephone, email (much less frequently), SMS notification, or during a scheduled visit.

If the answer is yes, the future borrower will be able to begin selecting an apartment to take out a mortgage. Typically, the period allotted by the bank for searches ranges from one to four months.

You should select real estate according to the following parameters:

The quality of the housing itself . It is clear that the more comfortable the apartment is initially, the better. And yet, you shouldn’t chase amenities too much: it’s often more profitable to take a property with a below-average renovation and carry out the necessary work yourself than to spend money on a “luxury” apartment.
Infrastructure . No matter how beautiful the property is, if it is remote and in a swamp (or next to a processing plant), it is not worth buying it. It’s better to look for more modest options, but at least a little integrated into the environment.
Legal purity . You should not take out a mortgage, or even for real money, on an apartment whose owner cannot confirm his right to own it and the absence of restrictions and encumbrances. You can check whether there are any complicating factors in life using a certificate from the Unified State Register of Real Estate: the buyer can also order it, but usually the seller takes on this responsibility.

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Documents related to the found apartment should be taken to the bank; If the property meets the lender's conditions, he gives approval, after which a preliminary agreement on the provision of borrowed funds is drawn up.

Conclusion of a loan agreement

Typically, drawing up a loan agreement takes a minimum of time; After all the documents have been collected and the borrower is once again familiar with the terms, all that remains is to sign at the end of the document. After a short time, the money will be credited to the buyer’s account, and he will transfer it to the real estate seller - this is where the purchase and sale procedure ends, and the loan repayment is just beginning.

There is hardly any need to remind you of the need to carefully check and re-read all documents involved in purchase, sale and lending transactions: not a single bank will do this for the borrower, and the unlucky buyer will have to deal with the legal difficulties on his own.

Drawing up an insurance contract

All banks, large and smaller, like to impose insurance on clients: life and health, employment (in case of layoffs), and the purchased apartment. And if most of them, following the advice of experienced ones, can be abandoned even before signing the contract or during the cooling-off period, then you will have to come to terms with the latter: the right to impose home insurance on the borrower in respect of which the loan is issued was given to banks by the legislator.

But no one prohibits the borrower from choosing an insurance company on his own: if you try hard, you can save up to 50–100% of the cost of services offered by the bank itself or affiliated insurers.