oyajikun wrote:Any other recommendations? I hear that Tokyo Mitsubishi sometimes gives loans to those without permanent residency. Has anyone had any luck with them?
fwiw, when my wife and i were originally considering building - we eventually decided not to for various reasons that aren't relevant here - we talked to one local bank (San-in Godo) who are quite frankly a bunch of xenophobic assholes, despite my previous dealings, and to JA Bank. San-in kept finding new hoops for me to jump through and ridiculous conditions to be met.
JA Bank has always been flexible with me overall, friendly and i gladly give them my business for direct deposits, auto, life, supplementary health insurance, travel and building insurance etc. in fact, i wanted to go to them first and have nothing to do with the other assholes, and i think the way the way San-in treated me was something of an eye-opener to my father-in-law.
i've had car loans, the loan for my school building and a small business loan for my second school, all without problems through JA. some of these dealings were before i was approved for pr. they are very well networked and in my experience nowhere near as stodgy as they appear and far more willing to work with you. in fact when we got the first estimate for a house, they were almost too willing (not predatory, i simply didn't want to borrow 4200 man!)
if you don't know someone, ask your wife if she has a friend who works for a branch near you. this is important as, afaik, the way they are structured, a branch can only lend within a certain geographic area.
go in together, perhaps with her friend having acted as a go-between beforehand and talk to them. they may be a bit more sticky on the permanent residence requirement for long-term loans but if it's pending, they might be able to draw things up and then execute the loan upon your being approved.
good luck to you!
