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Mortgage based on your income in a foreign currency

How much can you borrow for a mortgage?

If you receive your income in a foreign currency (such as British pounds or US dollars) and you do want to buy a house in the Netherlands, you are often still eligible for an ABN AMRO mortgage. The features of the loan are different than with a mortgage based on your income in euros. Read about how your maximum mortgage is calculated if you receive your income fully or partly in a foreign currency and what the possibilities and risks are.

 

Calculating your mortgage

What is your maximum mortgage with an income in a foreign currency?

The maximum amount that you can borrow to buy a house is lower with an income in a foreign currency than with an income in euros. This is because your mortgage loan is provided in euros, while you receive your income in another currency. In this situation your mortgage carries what is called a “currency risk”. If the exchange rate changes, your income when converted into euros may decrease in value and this may affect your ability to make your monthly payments. 

To calculate your maximum mortgage, we base our calculations on 90% of your qualifying income after this has been converted to euros. If you want to calculate your mortgage online yourself, convert your income into euros and use 90% of the resulting amount.

More about currency risk

What is currency risk?

Currency risk, also known as exchange-rate risk, is the risk of the currency in which you receive your income losing value while your mortgage is in euros. Let’s assume, for example, that you receive your income in US dollars and the value of the dollar drops compared to the euro. This will change the ratio between your income in US dollars and your monthly amount in euros. This in turn may make it more difficult for you to make your monthly mortgage payments. The exchange rate between the euro and the currency in which you receive all or part of your income is important when it comes to the affordability of the mortgage repayments. That’s why we track this exchange rate and recommend that you do the same, which you can do using our convenient currency converter.

How do I limit the currency risk?

During the term of this mortgage loan, you can limit the currency risk – subject to conditions – by making a one-off extra repayment for example. You can also take measures yourself to absorb possible negative price movements, like by placing some of your income in a savings account. More about making extra repayments on your mortgage.

How do we determine the currency risk?

When you receive the final mortgage offer, we determine the exchange rate of the euro against the currency of your income at that time. We will monitor the rate on a monthly basis. If the exchange rate drops by more than 20% compared to the exchange rate in your mortgage offer, you will receive a letter in which we inform you of this risk and how you can limit the risk. In that case, you may repay 20% extra per calendar year instead of the usual 10%.

 

Need advice? Make an appointment

If you need help calculating your maximum mortgage based on income in a foreign currency, or would like to discuss your options for taking out a mortgage, you can make an appointment for a free, no-obligations orientation meeting.