Currently, when we see the commercial offer of mortgages from financial institutions, they usually highlight the option of obtaining bonuses (a lower interest rate) in exchange for contracting products with the bank, in general they are products that you will have to contract with that or another bank with which many times, even for convenience, they are concentrated in the bank from which you ask for the mortgage and in exchange you pay less interest.
- Payroll domiciliation.
- Hiring home, life or payment protection insurance.
- Application for credit or debit cards.
- Hiring a bank deposit.
- Subscription of a pension plan
- Acquisition of shares of an investment fund
As we have commented, the interest to be paid is usually much less than in some cases it reaches up to 1% difference.
Without going into the fact that many times these contracted products are made at a price generally higher than what you can obtain in other banks (Ausfin estimates that subsidized mortgages are up to 2,000 euros more expensive per year) there is an added risk and that is direct debit of the payroll given that In the event that you remain unemployed and your unemployment benefit is less than the minimum required, you lose the bonuses and you will have to pay higher interest, something that will happen to you just at the moment when it is worst for you, when you have lost your job.
We have another example in the obligation to contract credit or debit cards that in the fine print say that you have to make minimum payments per year or quarter for the corresponding bonus to be activated, so if you do not use them, you lose the bonus.
Therefore, you have to be very careful with the bonuses since apart from not representing real savings (despite the lower interest you pay for the mortgage) they can also disappear if you fail to meet any of the requirements.