How to save on overseas mortgage costs Regular payments can also be used to meet home maintenance costs and to repatriate rental income, as well as non-property related expenses such as pension and salary transfers. Unlike banks, larger currency brokers will also allow customers to automate their payments by direct debits and fix their exchange rates for up to 12 months ahead if they wish. This means customers know exactly how much is transferred every month. According to currency broker HiFX, customers can save up to £300 on transfer fees alone by using direct debit, as the banks charge transfer fees of up to £30 on every transaction. They also save on bank commission and receiving fees from overseas banks. Mark Bodega of HiFX said: "Depending on the amounts a client is sending they could save thousands of euros a year on bank charges alone." Getting a mortgage for an overseas property may be a harder matter than sending money to pay for it, however. Tim Harvey, managing director of Offshoreonline.org, said: "Prior to 2007, expatriates had a wide range of choice - brands such as Lloyds International, Bank of Scotland International, BM Solutions, Halifax, Cheltenham & Gloucester and even some regional building societies would all look at expat business favourably. The Halifax Bank of Scotland collapse and their subsequent takeover by Lloyds has been a disaster for expats, with at least five lenders being forced out of the market after they were all taken over by Lloyds, who then stopped new lending activity in the market in 2012. While there are still lenders active in the expat business, they can make heavy demands - a minimum purchase price of £150,000, a minimum loan of £100,000 and a deposit of at least 25 per cent are common requirements. John Busby, director of French Private Finance, said there has been a recent rise in the number of expats with homes in France choosing to remortgage. What's unusual, said Mr Busby, is that it is not usually worth going to the bother of remortgaging in France due to the costs of bank fees and mortgage registration tax, which usually amount to 2.5 per cent of the amount being refinanced. The French tendency to offer good long-term fixed and tracker mortgage deals also means there has been little point in the past in remortgaging. However, he said, the situation has changed. "Now that French mortgage rates are at an all-time low, the numbers have become more interesting," he said. If you have a mortgage with more than £100,000 outstanding and can find a long-term mortgage offering a rate a percentage point lower than your current rate, it does make sense. He said that expats who want to remortgage in France will usually need to have at least 30 per cent equity in their home, but once the costs have been taken into account it should be possible to save around €10,000 for every €100,000 refinanced over 20 years.