Can I take over someone else's mortgage?

[SoylentGreen]

I read on a Spanish thread where someone wanted to take over a mortgage from someone else while moving to live in Spain. This someone else might be a person who is in arrears and unable to meet their mortgage payment.

I assume that the bank would welcome this if the person taking over the mortgage paid the arrears.

Is there a benefit to the person taking over the mortgage and is there a benefit to the person who is in arrears. I am assuming that the new mortgage holder will live in and own the house?

 

[skrooge]

In theory if all parties agree it might suit the bank. I.e., no repossession costs. However it would still be at a cost to the bank in issuing a mortgage to the new borrower.

But hard to see all parties agreeing to it - surely someone has to pay

So original mortgage holder has debt paid off/arrears capped?

Person taking over the mortgage gets the property for less than market price? This would be at the cost of the original owners built up equity?

If prices have fallen and no equity in the property the new mortgager pays over the odds?

Might work if property prices haven't changed and existing mortgage holder hasn't paid off much - so very early on in the life of the first mortgage.

 

[Thirsty]

Banks here in Ireland don't support this.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

If A can't afford their mortgage, they sell their home to B and pay off the mortgage.

B can borrow from A's bank if they meet their lending requirements.

A would indeed welcome this.
They replace a bad loan with a good loan

Brendan

 

[Thirsty]

In the US (& possibly elsewhere); you can inherit a house and subsume the mortgage. As long as the mortgage continues to be paid, bank is perfectly happy & they make money. Having said that of course, bank has a far faster process to foreclose if mortgage is unpaid.

Why is this better than our system?

Primarily, it removes the need to sell if beneficiary wants to keep the property.

At one point in Tokyo, banks were giving loans that would be paid off in three generations; not sure I'd like to see that here!