France - Mortgages

There are three different solutions to guarantee a loan:
- mortgage
- lender's privilege, 'le privilège de prêteur de denier'
- personal guarantee (private or professional)

The mortgage deed is concluded in front of a public notary and allows the bank to sell the house if you cannot reimburse the loan. Mortgage fees are 2 % of the total amount of the loan. Plus a 0.05 % of the sales price and 0.10 % when the mortgage is finished.

Lender's privilege is possible only if you buy an existiting house or flat. It's cheaper than a mortgage if the amount of the loan is higher than 76.225 EUR, because you won't have to pay certain fees (advertising fees) which correspond to 0.615 % of the loan.

A personal guarantee can be provided by a person (parent, husband, wife etc), by a company or institution (especially for civil servants) or from a specialised company.

Here are some specialized companies:

'Crédit Logement', 'Socami' for Bred bank, 'Camca' for the Credit Agricole Bank etc.
You have to pay a fee, but at the end of your loan, you will get back 80% of this amount.