Polish mortgage glossary in English

Additional products are an account, a card, insurance and other services the bank offers with the loan in exchange for a lower margin or commission.

An annex (aneks) to a loan agreement is a written arrangement between the bank and the borrower that changes selected terms of the existing agreement.

The Anti-spread Act (ustawa antyspreadowa) is the common name of the Act of 29 July 2011 amending the Banking Law and certain other acts, in force since 26 August 2011.

RRSO (rzeczywista roczna stopa oprocentowania) is the Polish APR: the total cost of the loan expressed as an annual percentage.

Assignment of policy rights (cesja) is the transfer to the bank of the right to compensation or benefit under an insurance policy, most often a property policy.

A benchmark rate (reference rate) is a published interest rate from which the bank calculates the variable part of the loan's interest.

BGK (Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego) is the Polish state development bank that runs government programmes, including housing ones.

The BGK guarantee is security provided by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK, the Polish state development bank) in the Family Housing Loan programme, which replaces the missing part of the down payment.

BIK (Biuro Informacji Kredytowej, the Credit Information Bureau) is an institution set up by banks that collects data on loans, cards, limits and instalment purchases: amounts, schedules, repayment history and credit enquiries.

The BIK score is a points rating calculated by the Credit Information Bureau (BIK) from your credit history.

The Borrower Support Fund (Fundusz Wsparcia Kredytobiorców) is a state fund run by BGK that helps people in difficulty repay a housing loan.

Bridging insurance (ubezpieczenie pomostowe) is an extra cost the bank may charge from the loan payout until the mortgage is entered in the land register.

Loan-related costs (koszty okołokredytowe) are expenses linked to the loan and the property purchase that are not the instalment.

A co-borrower is a person who signs the loan agreement with you and is liable for repaying the whole debt.

The commission (prowizja) is a one-off fee the bank charges for granting the loan, usually as a percentage of the loan amount.

A complaint (reklamacja) is a customer's submission raising objections to a bank's service, e.g.

A construction cost estimate (kosztorys budowy) is a breakdown of the cost of building a house by stage, e.g.

A construction mortgage (kredyt budowlano-hipoteczny) is a mortgage for building a house that the bank pays out in parts, usually in 3–5 tranches, after successive stages of work.

Court fees for a mortgage are fixed amounts the court charges for land register (księga wieczysta) entries related to the purchase and the loan.

Creditworthiness (zdolność kredytowa) is the highest loan amount the bank believes you can repay from your income over the whole term of the agreement.

A currency spread is the difference between the selling and buying rate of a currency in the bank's exchange table.

A consolidation loan (kredyt konsolidacyjny) is a loan from which the bank repays your existing debts, e.g.

Decreasing instalments (rata malejąca) are a repayment method in which the capital part of each instalment is fixed and the interest falls, because it is calculated on an ever smaller balance.

Deletion of a mortgage (wykreślenie hipoteki) is the removal of the mortgage entry from section IV of the land register on the basis of the creditor's consent and an application to the court.

A deposit (zadatek) is an amount paid on concluding an agreement which, under Article 394 of the Polish Civil Code, is forfeited if the party that paid it fails to perform, while the party that received it must pay back double if it fails to perform.

The down payment (wkład własny) is the part of the property price you pay from your own funds rather than from the loan.

DSTI (debt service to income) is the ratio of the monthly instalments of all your debts to your monthly net income, in per cent.

DTI (debt to income) is the ratio of all your debt to your income, usually annual, given as a multiple of income or a percentage.

Early repayment (wcześniejsza spłata) is repaying all or part of the loan before the date in the agreement.

Early repayment compensation (rekompensata) is a fee the bank may charge when you repay a mortgage in full or in part before the due date.

An income certificate (zaświadczenie o zarobkach) is a document issued by the employer confirming the type of employment, contract period and salary.

The end of the fixed-rate period is the moment when the periodically fixed interest rate stops applying, usually after 5 years.

Equal (annuity) instalments (rata równa) are loan instalments of the same amount throughout the repayment period, as long as the interest rate does not change.

ESIS (formularz informacyjny) is the document in which a bank, broker or agent presents a personalised mortgage offer on the uniform template annexed to the Polish Mortgage Credit Act.

The Family Housing Loan (Rodzinny Kredyt Mieszkaniowy, RKM) is a Polish government programme in which an ordinary mortgage at a bank cooperating with BGK is secured by a guarantee replacing the missing down payment, up to PLN 100,000.

The Financial Ombudsman (Rzecznik Finansowy) is a Polish state body that protects customers of financial institutions, including borrowers, in disputes with banks, insurers and intermediaries.

A fixed interest rate is a rate that does not change for a period set in the agreement, in Poland most often 5 years.

A foreign-currency loan is a loan granted in a foreign currency, or denominated or indexed to it, whose amount and instalments depend on that currency's exchange rate.

A gift for the down payment (darowizna) is money given free of charge, most often by parents, to cover the part of the price not financed by the loan.

A grace period (karencja) is a period in which you do not repay the loan capital, only interest.

A housing escrow account (mieszkaniowy rachunek powierniczy) is a bank account kept for a developer's project, into which the buyer pays for the flat, including from the loan.

Inflation is the rise in the general price level of goods and services over time, measured in Poland by Statistics Poland (GUS) with the consumer price index (CPI).

Interest is the bank's payment for lending money, calculated on the capital still to be repaid at the rate in the agreement.

The interest rate is the annual rate at which the bank charges interest on the capital still to be repaid.

The interest rate buffer is the extra percentage points the bank adds to the loan's interest rate when assessing creditworthiness, to check whether you can cope with a higher instalment.

Interest rate risk is the risk that the loan's interest rate will rise, and with it the instalment and total cost.

Joint marital property (wspólność majątkowa) is the regime that arises by law on marriage in Poland: property acquired during the marriage belongs to both spouses.

KNF (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority) is the state body that supervises the financial market in Poland, including banks, insurers, and mortgage credit intermediaries and their agents.

Kredyt Na Start, officially the '#naStart housing loan', is a government instalment subsidy programme announced from 2024 that was meant to replace Safe Loan 2%.

The land register (księga wieczysta, KW) is a public register kept by the district court that shows who owns a property and what rights of others encumber it.

Late payment interest (odsetki za opóźnienie) is interest a creditor, e.g.

Living costs (koszty utrzymania) are the amount the bank deducts from net income for the everyday needs of everyone in the household before calculating what is left for the loan instalment.

A loan application (wniosek kredytowy) is a formal request to the bank for a mortgage, submitted on the bank's form together with documents on income and the property.

The loan balance (saldo kredytu) is the amount of capital still to be repaid on a given day.

Loan capital (kapitał) is the amount you borrow from the bank, without interest and other costs.

A loan decision (decyzja kredytowa) is the bank's answer to a mortgage application, setting the amount, term, interest rate, security and payout conditions.

The loan margin is the fixed part of a variable interest rate that the bank adds to the benchmark rate, e.g.

The payout, or drawdown (uruchomienie kredytu), is the bank's transfer of the loan money to the accounts named in the agreement: the seller's, the seller's bank, the developer's, or yours when building.

A loan promise (promesa kredytowa) is the bank's written undertaking to grant a loan up to a specified amount if you meet stated conditions within a set time.

Loan restructuring (restrukturyzacja kredytu) is a change in repayment terms agreed with the bank when the borrower has trouble paying instalments.

Loan security (zabezpieczenie kredytu) is a right that lets the bank recover its money if the borrower stops paying.

The loan term (okres kredytowania) is the period over which you repay the loan under the agreement, counted in months or years.

A tranche (transza) is part of the loan amount paid out at a specific time, e.g.

MPZP (miejscowy plan zagospodarowania przestrzennego) is the local zoning plan: a municipal resolution that sets land use and building rules, e.g.

A low down payment is one below 20% of the property value, i.e.

Low down payment insurance (ubezpieczenie niskiego wkładu własnego, UNWW) is a policy the bank requires when the down payment is below 20% of the property value.

LTV (loan to value) is the ratio of the loan amount to the value of the property securing it, in per cent.

RPP (Rada Polityki Pieniężnej, the Monetary Policy Council) is the body of the National Bank of Poland that sets NBP interest rates.

A mortgage (hipoteka) is a right that lets the bank satisfy its claim from the property if the loan is not repaid, regardless of who owns the property at the time.

A mortgage adviser (doradca kredytowy) is the everyday name for a person who helps choose a mortgage.

The Mortgage Credit Act (ustawa o kredycie hipotecznym) is the Polish Act of 23 March 2017 on mortgage credit and the supervision of mortgage credit intermediaries and agents, in force since 22 July 2017.

A mortgage credit agent (agent kredytu hipotecznego) is a business that carries out mortgage intermediation in the name and on behalf of only one intermediary, under an agency agreement.

A mortgage credit intermediary (pośrednik kredytu hipotecznego) is a business that is not a bank and, for remuneration, presents mortgage agreements to consumers, helps with formalities before the agreement or concludes agreements on behalf of the lender.

Mortgage documents are the set of papers on the basis of which the bank assesses your creditworthiness and the property you want to buy.

A mortgage expert (ekspert kredytowy) is the everyday name for a person who helps choose a mortgage, compares banks' offers and guides the client from application to agreement.

Mortgage life insurance is a policy that repays the loan or part of it if the borrower dies, and in broader versions also in case of permanent inability to work.

A mortgage loan (kredyt hipoteczny) is a loan granted usually to buy, build or renovate a property, secured by a mortgage entered in the land register.

A mortgage loan agreement is a contract in which the bank makes a specified amount available to you for an agreed purpose, and you undertake to repay it with interest on set dates (Article 69 of the Polish Banking Law).

An overpayment (nadpłata kredytu) is a payment above the scheduled instalment that immediately reduces the capital to be repaid.

A mortgage-secured loan (pożyczka hipoteczna) is a loan for any purpose, including consumer spending, secured by a mortgage on a flat, house or plot.

NBP (Narodowy Bank Polski) is Poland's central bank, which conducts monetary policy, issues the złoty and publishes exchange rates.

The NBP reference rate is the main interest rate of the National Bank of Poland, i.e.

A notarial deed (akt notarialny) is an official document drawn up by a notary in which the parties make declarations of will, e.g.

The notary fee (taksa notarialna) is the notary's remuneration for drawing up a deed and other acts.

A notice of loan refusal is the communication the bank must send without delay under the Polish Mortgage Credit Act when it rejects an application because of a negative creditworthiness assessment.

A payment holiday (wakacje kredytowe) is a suspension of loan instalments for a set time.

PCC (podatek od czynności cywilnoprawnych, tax on civil law transactions) is a tax paid, among other things, when buying a resale property and when creating a mortgage.

POLSTR (Polish Short Term Rate) is a benchmark rate based on actual overnight deposit transactions in złoty, weighted by volume.

A preliminary agreement (umowa przedwstępna) is a contract in which the buyer and seller undertake to conclude the sale agreement in the future, called the promised agreement (Article 389 of the Polish Civil Code).

The primary market means properties bought from a developer, i.e.

Property insurance for a mortgage is a policy against fire and other random events, such as flooding, explosion or storm, covering the structure of the flat or house.

A valuation report (operat szacunkowy) is a document in which a licensed property valuer determines the market value of a property.

The public faith of land registers (rękojmia wiary publicznej ksiąg wieczystych) is the principle that the content of the register prevails in favour of a person who, in good faith, acquired a right from the owner entered in the register, even if the entry does not match the actual legal status.

Recommendation S (Rekomendacja S) is a set of rules issued by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) for banks on mortgage-secured loans: assessing creditworthiness, collateral value, informing customers and managing risk.

Refinancing (refinansowanie) means taking out a new mortgage, usually at another bank, to repay the current one.

A repayment schedule (harmonogram spłat) is a table of the dates and amounts of loan instalments, splitting each instalment into capital and interest and showing the balance after it.

Safe Loan 2% (Bezpieczny Kredyt 2%) is a Polish government programme of subsidies to instalments on a loan for a first home, introduced in 2023 into the Family Housing Loan Act.

The secondary market means properties bought from their current owners rather than from a developer.

A seller's mortgage is a mortgage, entered in section IV of the land register, of the bank that lent to the flat's current owner.

A submission to enforcement (oświadczenie o poddaniu się egzekucji) is a debtor's statement made in a notarial deed that, if the debt is not repaid, the creditor may enforce it without a prior court case (Article 777 § 1 points 4–6 of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure).

Termination of a loan agreement (wypowiedzenie) is the bank unilaterally ending the agreement, after which the whole remaining debt becomes due.

The total cost of credit is all the costs you bear in connection with the loan agreement: interest, commissions, fees and the cost of additional services, in particular insurance, if they are needed to get the loan on the given terms.

Tying (sprzedaż wiązana) means offering a loan only together with another product, when the loan cannot be obtained without that product.

A variable interest rate is a loan rate equal to the benchmark rate plus the bank's fixed margin.

WIBOR (Warsaw Interbank Offered Rate) is a benchmark rate showing the rate at which banks declare they are willing to lend złoty to each other for 1, 3 or 6 months.

WIRON (Warsaw Interest Rate Overnight) is an overnight rate index that, in the first version of the reform, was meant to replace WIBOR in loans.

Withdrawal from a loan agreement is a consumer's statutory right to back out of a mortgage agreement without giving a reason within 14 days of signing it (Article 42 of the Polish Mortgage Credit Act).