Bank loans in Colombia

Right, good luck getting that mortgage on your dream house upon arrival.

With newbies having no credit history South of the border and the likelihood that most Expats will go elsewhere long before any balloon payment would come due, the bankers are not exactly beating the bushes to lend money to Gringos.

Which is great in the long run, since way too many Gringos have bought real estate in South America .. only to move or regret it for other reasons.   

Enjoy your credit-free life en la República.

And for heaven's sake, remember that what you may read in Live & Invest Overseas, international advertising and most Expat e-publications does not tell about the myriad problems you could encounter by investing in rental properties abroad.

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I have posted in the past about the low cost of buying an apartment in places such as Quindío.  That's in the Coffee Zone, which has historically been a safe place to live overall.

These days -- and by these days I refer to the brand-new tough-talking administration -- I'd avoid buying property in a volatile South American country.

As the brilliant Robert Panté taught me, "It's not what you pay.  It's what you receive."

And receiving property at any price -- even in the unlikely scenario that a Gringo could get a mortgage -- is problematic .. in a South American country where things can go (further) "South" at any time.

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What would happen, it was asked above, if an Expat had to repatriate or move to another country?

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In theory, the same thing would happen as in an Expat's home country.  The house or collateral would be repossessed or confiscated on behalf of the lender after payments lapsed.

An unsecured-loan scenario?  Puh-leeze.

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Interest rates are 10% per annun minimum..and usually more.

No expat in their right mind gets a bank loan in Colombia.

Everyone pays with Cash from back home.

All the banks are ladrones

I guess thats the end of this thread.

If you owed money and left, or otherwise missed payments obviously any property you had  would be reposessed

Ja ja "other optioon" to a Bank is to use a "gota gota:..but they charge a minimum 3% per month and if you dont pay, you will probably find yourself flying from the roof of your apartment complex.

Doubt  they would give an Expat a loan either..too much "flight risk"..either out of the country or off of the roof...ja ja

To be honest they would probably just break one of your arms before they killed you though..after all..cant get money from a dead Man.