Building savings contracts are among the most popular financial products in Germany. But do you still make sense?
Almost everyone knows this commercial: a shaggy punk dad is sitting in front of his construction trailer, next to him his daughter, who tells of her friend’s big house. The father reacts to this with the same assessment answer: “philistine”. However, his daughter sees it differently: when she is big, she also wants to become a philistine.
A viral hit would be called today, which the LBS, the Sparkassen building society succeeded in the early 2000s. She played with the image that building savings contracts attached for a long time: bourgeois but safe. But is that still true? We clarify the most important questions about building society contracts.
You usually conclude a home savings contract to finance the purchase or construction of your own property. But you can also use it to modernize or convert an apartment or house.
Classically, building savings works according to this scheme: save first, then build. So it combines a savings plan with a loan.
The interest rates are set for both phases: In the savings phase, they usually receive fewer interest income than with other forms of investment. Conversely, the loan costs it less later in the second phase. The idea behind it: With a home savings contract, you can secure yourself against rising interest rates for loans.
When you conclude the contract, first set the building savings. You then have to save a part of this yourself, the so -called minimum saving credit – usually between 40 and 50 percent. You will then receive the money that is then missing from the building savings as a loan.
In the savings phase, you usually pay monthly contributions to your building society contract. In some cases, however, it is also possible to shoot more money in addition to this savings rate. After a specified number of years, you can then use the loan. In technical jargon this means: Your home savings contract is “ready for allocation”.
Danger: Depending on the tariff, there is a regular savings contribution. If the agreed savings rate is above this article, the building society can reject it as a special payment. Then it takes longer than planned to save the necessary credit. Conversely, the building society can request an additional payment if the savings rate is lower than the standard savings contribution. If you do not collect this savings rate, the building society can terminate your contract.
The amount of the home savings amount depends on how much you want to spend on construction, purchase or modernization of a property. Since 2016, the building parsing can be so high that they cover the complete so -called lending value. This is the amount up to which the bank lends you money for a property. The rest – usually 10 to 15 percent of the total value of the property – must cover them with equity.
However, the Stiftung Warentest recommends that the building savings amount not apply higher than 40 percent of the total costs. Otherwise you usually take too long to reach the minimum savings credit. If you want to build, buy or modernize earlier, you may need an expensive intermediate loan.
Your contract will be allocated when you have reached the minimum saving credit, i.e. the part of the building savings, which you have to save yourself. As a rule, the share is between 40 and 50 percent of the targeted total amount of the building savings. You will then receive the saved credit. In addition, you can now absorb a building loan for the agreed interest rate. Read more about what to do if your building society contract is ready for allocation.
No. You can simply have the saved credit paid out. In this case, the building society contract simply ends. According to the consumer advice center, this is rather not worth it – unless your tariff has a high credit. This is still the case with older contracts.
Then you could also consider whether you will even continue to save. The credit then interests itself. However, the building society may terminate the contract ten years after the allocation.
