Unless we are talking about huge interest rates with local banks then I see no point in going with international banks. It will always be harder and more complicated when dealing with an institution in another country. Unless you have some very liquid assets to use as collateral, I doubt many international banks will look your way. Also, most banks deal in local currency with individuals. They might make loans in USD to EUR to big corporations, but as an individual person you will most likely be stuck with what ever currency they are using. This brings a whole new exchange rate risk into play.
Sure, banks usually will lend us the local currency, but sometimes they don't even offer the best rates, so it's just a matter of asking around to see where the best rates are.
It looks like an international bank may not be a good idea. Could I ask why you don't want to use a local bank? Are there any comparisom websites, specific to your country, where you could research the rates that they offer?
Citibank has been advertising recently that their interest rates have been at an all time low. I did compare them with other international banks and they are indeed lower. My loan officer even has been pushing me that I must maximize whatever loan I can get because it is almost equivalent to not having to pay interest because of the low rates. He's right, if you consider value for money, the little interest you have to pay is worth it. You can use the money elsewhere and grow it.
Of course the bank's employees will tell you to maximise all possible loans. The more you owe, the more interest you pay and the more the bank earns. Simple. Now what you seem to be pondering about is taking an investment loan... in that case yeah if you believe you can invest the money in a way that you make more than the interest. Just keep in mind that unless you have a very solid investment plan, leverage (using loaned money) can backfire really fast.
I am owing to the bank for decades now, so I am really not interested in any more credit, I prefer to buy what I can afford and that's it.
I am not sure which area you live in. Hence it is difficult to talk about it. I do believe that it is really not very difficult to ask the individual banks themselves. They can provide you a more detailed explanation on which bank would be really worth it.
Banks basically check if you can pay and get assured, once they do they just collect interests, but hey, we are getting a home too!
Over here, my nephew got a loan of 1.5M pesos from BDO, the largest universal bank. It took him a week to finish the requirements and over a month of waiting before the proceeds of the loan was deposited to his account. Take note that my nephew is residing in Hongkong while the bank is located in the Philippines. He was sending me the required documents and when he was ready to sign, he came over for that. He said BDO is faster than other banks he had tried. By the way, the loan amount of 1.5M pesos is around $35,000.
