There are many threads here about mortgages in less than ideal situations (non-PR, inaka houses, income coming from abroad etc.), but how should one go about choosing a bank for mortgage when the situation is seemingly ideal?
Let’s say someone
* has PR and/or Japanese spouse
* have been in Japan for many years
* have been working for the same Japanese company for years as a full-time employee. The company is big/stable, not a new/start-up
* aiming to finance a home with zero down payment
* the mortgage amount is 4-6x their yearly gross salary
The variable vs fixed rate debate has been discussed multiple times, e.g. [https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/comments/u8ltkn/comment/i5m6es6/](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/comments/u8ltkn/comment/i5m6es6/) so let’s put that aside and focus on how one should compare the banks assuming they get pre-approved for multiple of them.
Advice from the wiki seems to be to check banks on [https://kakaku.com/housing-loan/](https://kakaku.com/housing-loan/) and [https://mogecheck.jp/](https://mogecheck.jp/) but it seems that almost all banks offer very similar rates. Looking at variable rates right now (2024 February) e.g.
* the current lowest interest seems to be 0.219% from auじぶん銀行
* next is 0.290% from PayPay 銀行 (for zero-down)
* Prestia also offers 0.34% (for GOLD members or for amounts of 50m+ yen) [https://www.smbctb.co.jp/en/wealth/housing-loan.html](https://www.smbctb.co.jp/en/wealth/housing-loan.html)
When looking at the monthly payment, the difference between these rates is pretty small. Considering a 35 year loan of 70m yen the monthly payments are:
* 0.219% -> ¥173,151
* 0.290% -> ¥175,288
* 0.340% -> ¥176,804
So the difference is only 1-2%, which makes me wonder what else to consider other than the interest rate. Things that come to my mind:
* Initial costs including guarantor fees: many banks seem to only charge 2.2% upfront fee
* Life insurance: many (all?) banks seem to include the basic life insurance by default (if you die, the loan is cancelled) and some offer extra insurance for either free or an additional fee (e.g. if you are diagnosed with cancer, they half the remaining principal)
* Early repayment fees and type (reduce the length or reduce the monthly payment going forward)
Is there anything else to consider?
Almost all of these rates are tied to [short-term prime lending rate](https://www.boj.or.jp/en/statistics/dl/loan/prime/prime.htm/) (短期プライムレート), right? So e.g. a mortgage with an interest of 0.3% will always be 0.1% lower than a mortgage with 0.4%, correct?
by Ok_Philosopher_7716
