Hi all,
We recently closed on our apartment purchase and couldn’t be happier! As promised, I’m sharing our experience obtaining a mortgage with Swissquote/LUKB.
TLDR version: SQ/LUKB offer one of the most competitive and accessible SARON mortgages in Switzerland for existing property. I was able to secure their advertised rate/margin (margin is 0.55% but stated as 0.75% on their website, which includes the current SARON rate). The process was quite straightforward (though took some time), completely online, no negotiations, and no asset transfers nor insurance required.
Key info: Property located in Canton Vaud, purchase price around CHF 1M, LTV at 80%, deposit (20%) paid in cash, no pledging or withdrawal of pillar 2/3a. Annual amortization of 10K for 15 years, through mix of indirect (maximum) and direct for the remainder. Indirect amortization only possible through LUKB 3a savings account. Both borrowers are first-time buyers, non-Swiss.
We started the process of looking for a mortgage provider in January. Our strategy was to directly contact local cantonal banks (BCGE, BCV), as well as engage Moneypark to cover all the institutions that we weren’t aware of or didn’t have the time to contact ourselves. Funnily enough, I only found out about the Swissquote mortgage through a social media ad after I’d been googling “best mortgage Switzerland” for a few days (I guess that’s one reason to be thankful for targeted marketing).
I browsed their site and saw their advertised rate of 0.99% at the time, which I thought was average at best. I assumed it was their margin and they would add the SARON rate on top of that. I decided to go and apply anyway just to have more options so I opened a Swissquote account (required). Downloaded their app, completed a form, and transferred a small amount (not sure this last step is necessary, but I also wanted to explore their trading platform). I then started the actual mortgage application where I answered the usual questions and after a few minutes, I received a mortgage feasibility analysis (only available in German) saying that everything looked good and that I should upload all the documents to a secure link they provided.
Fairly smooth process to upload everything, got an email back from an SQ rep after 2 working days as advertised. SQ rep also included a table of rates offered in their email, and this is where I saw that 0.99% for a 3-year SARON mortgage already included the SARON rate (0.44% back then), while separately and explicitly stating that their margin was only 0.55% ! I called and was able to speak to them on the phone to confirm the rate and clarify something about one of the documents requested - they were nice, confirmed the margin, figured out what was needed, then told me they’ll evaluate and get back to me.
This is the point where we of course got really excited. We wanted to know more about SQ/LUKB but couldn’t find anything online (no articles, reviews, etc.) I even searched in forums and in different languages but it’s mostly about their trading/banking business. So after that initial euphoria of thinking we found a great deal, we felt deflated when we couldn’t find a single (success) story about them. I was thinking maybe this is just a hook to lure people in, where in the end they’d offer a higher rate or require so many things that would make the mortgage unattractive.
Anyway, back to the story. It was around this time that we received our first offers from the cantonal banks and met with our Moneypark advisor. The first (and only) offer from Moneypark was with UBS at 0.95% margin. Cantonal banks were even higher so we put their offers aside and focused on trying to negotiate with the others first.
I followed up with SQ rep the following week both through email and phone but they weren’t answering. Tried again the week after without success. Finally heard back three weeks after the completed submission with a short email saying they were still evaluating. At this point we weren’t hopeful anything would come out of it since they were not responsive at all. Contrast that with Moneypark agent, who improved slightly on their offer, was very responsive and was ready to proceed with the agreement. But good thing we had some time before the purchase could be completed - we had to wait for some paperwork from the previous owners to come through before the sale/transfer date could be finalized.
Two weeks after that (Week 5), I got another email from SQ rep saying that LUKB colleagues were now handling the assessment. Then another three weeks went by (Week 8) when out of the blue we received a binding offer from LUKB sent through the SQ app! We were just about ready to accept the UBS offer but we held off to check if the SQ/LUKB offer was legit!
Just to note that during those 8 weeks, I was following up multiple times each week both through email and phone, but didn’t get any response at all except for the emails mentioned. As you can imagine, our initial hope had already turned to resignation as we prepared to settle for the Moneypark/UBS offer.
But I am really happy to report that the wait and anxiety was worth it - margin offered (0.55%) was exactly as first quoted, no negotiating, no need for any asset transfer, and no unemployment/disability/life insurance required. The only downside (if you can even call it that) is that there is no option to do indirect amortization with a 3a investment account. We happily accepted their offer.
We were then shifted to interacting with an LUKB email address (previous interactions were all with SQ rep). From this point on, we found the LUKB team were quite responsive to questions or updates with the process and engaging with our notary. All completely through email - they don’t even have a phone number we could call. We received physical copies of the contract and other documents 2 weeks after accepting the offer, signed and sent them back by mail, and voila! Completed the purchase a further 2 weeks after that (12 weeks in total).
The SQ/LUKB mortgage is a very underrated option IMHO. I’m very surprised that they are not more well-known, or even talked about in this space - I would even rate them better than VIAC/WIR (perhaps MP should feature them). I assume it’s a combination of how people misinterpret their advertised SARON rates, needing to open a Swissquote account first before applying / getting clarity on those rates, and lack of other people already talking about them.
I would highly recommend them for those buying or refinancing existing property. From my experience, it would be best to start engaging with them a minimum of 3 months before the targeted sale/transfer/refinance date. We also really liked that there was no room/need for negotiation of the rates or anything else - as first-time buyers, we were not confident we’d have any leverage to negotiate down any offers.
I also think it is one of the most accessible mortgages, and I mean that in the sense that we didn’t need to be employees of the lender or have a low LTV to get that rate. While we do have more income and assets than the bare minimum required by affordability tests, I’d consider us to only have an average profile. Not having a previously established relationship with them wasn’t a factor either.
Possible downsides for some: they don’t consider new builds / homes under construction, they finance only up to 80% LTV and you must have at least 10% in “hard” cash, they only allow indirect amortization through low interest 3a savings account, and I am not sure they have the processing capacity if you have a short time frame in mind for your transaction. But if those conditions are not an issue for you, then this is one of the best offers out there.
Hoping this information is helpful for someone, the same way that this forum has been invaluable for me in my financial journey!
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