Credit costs about twice here what it costs at home, and there is a specific reason for it. What you can realistically get as a foreign buyer, and how our four plans compare with and without a down payment.
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TL;DR
If you are buying property in Mexico from the US or Canada, the first thing you notice is that credit here costs about twice what it costs at home. That is real, and it has a specific explanation that is worth understanding before anyone quotes you anything.
If you have a mortgage in the US or Canada, the figures on this page will look expensive at first glance. Two things explain almost all of it, and only one of them is the interest rate.
| Mexico | United States | |
|---|---|---|
| Central bank rate | 6.50% (Banxico) | 3.50–3.75% (Federal Reserve) |
| Typical mortgage to the public | 13.96% CAT | 6.66% (30-year fixed) |
| Longest term available | 20 years | 30 years |
| Minimum down payment for a foreigner | 35–50% | 3–20% |
Money simply costs more here. Banxico holds its rate almost three points above the Federal Reserve, and every peso loan in the country is priced off that floor. By the time it reaches an ordinary borrower the gap is wider still — fewer lenders, a much smaller mortgage market, and less competition for your business.
THE PART NOBODY WARNS YOU ABOUT
But the term is what surprises people most. There is no 30-year mortgage in Mexico. Not at a better bank, not with a bigger down payment — the product does not exist. Twenty years is the ceiling and fifteen is normal. The same house paid off in half the time carries a much larger monthly payment, and that is arithmetic, not a price anybody is charging you.
Here is what that looks like on a $2,000,000 MXN home (about $115,000 USD) with 20% down, against the 30-year mortgage you are used to at home:
| Monthly | Term | Total you pay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A US 30-year at 6.66%* | $10,282 | 30 years | $4,101,520 |
| Tanda Casa, Traditional Fija | $17,613 | 15 years | $3,570,340 |
The monthly is $7,331 higher. The total is $531,180 lower. You are not paying more for the house; you are paying for it in half the time. That is the honest shape of the comparison, and it is worth knowing before the first number startles you.
The 6.66% you have is a US rate on a US property, under US law. No US or Canadian lender will write a mortgage on a house in Mexico — a lender needs to be able to foreclose, and a US bank has no standing in a Mexican court. It is not a policy any branch manager can waive. Whatever you arrange at home will be secured by your home-country property, not by the Mexican one.
WHAT A LENDER HERE ASKS FIRST
Which leaves the Mexican market. And that is where being a foreigner starts to matter: no Mexican credit history, income from a foreign employer in a foreign currency, and usually no residency. Those three are exactly what a Mexican bank asks for first. The door most Mexicans use turns out to be the hardest one for you.
So the comparison that actually decides anything is not your mortgage at home. It is what buying in Mexico costs, by the routes that are genuinely open to a foreigner — which is the next section.
Tanda Casa publishes a CAT of 6.0% fixed, well under the Mexican mortgage market. That is not a better-negotiated bank rate: there is no lender here taking a margin. It is a group of clients contributing to a common fund, regulated by PROFECO and authorized by the Secretaría de Economía. What you pay above your own contribution is an administration fee, not interest.
The trade-off is elsewhere, and it is real: you contribute first and receive the property when you are adjudicated. That is covered further down, with the numbers.
Three things genuinely operate in Mexico. Everything else you may have read about is a way to raise cash at home, which is a different question.
| Option | Minimum down | Rate | Term | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexican bank mortgage | 35–50% | 7–10% USD | 15–20 yrs | Income proof, credit history, and most lenders want Mexican residency. A small, shifting field of cross-border programs serves buyers who have none |
| Developer financing | 30–50% | 8–12% USD | 2–5 yrs | Little paperwork, but the short term forces a refinance or a lump sum at the end |
| Tanda Casa | $0 to 20%, your choice | 6.0% CAT fixed | 15 yrs | Identification. No credit bureau, no income proof, no residency requirement |
The bank row is where most foreign buyers stop, and it is worth being precise about why. If you hold Mexican residency and can document income, a peso mortgage is genuinely available to you. If you are living in the US or Canada with no residency here, what remains is a handful of cross-border programs lending in dollars — real, but a small field that changes from year to year, asking a third to half the price up front plus verifiable income, over a process measured in months. The door is not closed. It is that very few people walk through it.
This is the part that changes most for a foreign buyer, because the down payment is not just about the monthly figure — it decides when you get the property. On a $2,000,000 MXN home (about $115,000 USD):
| Plan | Down payment | Monthly | You are adjudicated | Total over the term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Fija | $0 | $19,835 fixed | By score, around month 72 | $3,570,300 |
| Traditional Baja | $0 | $17,124 rising | By score, around month 72 | $3,783,016 |
| Traditional Fija | $400,000 (20%) | $17,613 fixed | Month 18 | $3,570,340 |
| Traditional Baja | $400,000 (20%) | $15,444 rising | Month 18 | $3,740,477 |
| Promotional Fija | $400,000 (20%) | $10,193 for 18 months, then $21,081 | Month 18 | $3,998,528 |
| Promotional Baja | $400,000 (20%) | $10,193 for 18 months, then $15,008 rising | Month 18 | $3,997,283 |
Three readings that matter:
WHERE A BANK STILL WINS
And to be straight about it: a Mexican bank’s USD program at its best terms — 40% down at 8% over 20 years on this same property — runs about $10,037 a month and lands near $3,208,947 all in, below every row above. That is a real number and we are not going to hide it. What it costs you is $800,000 up front instead of $400,000, verifiable income, usually residency, a process measured in months, and a lender in that narrow field saying yes. If you clear all of that, take it. Most foreign buyers cannot. Run your own number here.
Cost is one side of the decision. These are the parts that matter specifically because you live somewhere else.
Your monthly contribution is charged to your card, on the same date every month, from wherever you are — the same way any subscription you already pay works. Nothing to set up with a bank on either side of the border.
It is worth sitting with what the alternative looks like. A mortgage from a Mexican bank is paid into a Mexican account. From abroad, that means arranging an international transfer, covering its fee, and doing it again the following month — 240 times over a twenty-year term. Miss one because you were travelling and the consequence is not a late email.
Designing the plan, verifying your identity, signing and paying the enrollment all happen online, in one sitting. A single electronic signature covers the full contract kit. No printed forms, no packet couriered abroad for signatures, no flight to Mexico City. Advice happens over WhatsApp or video call, in English.
No credit bureau is consulted — we neither check it nor report to it — and no proof of income is requested. No Mexican credit history, no residency, no local employer. This is not an accommodation made for foreign buyers; it is how the product works for everyone, which is why it does not come with an asterisk.
If the holder dies while current on payments, the insurance covers the outstanding balance and the property is deeded to the heir — clause VII.01 of the contract. You are not buying a separate policy and you are not underwritten for one. For a buyer whose family is in another country, that is the part worth reading twice.
THE TRADE, IN ONE PARAGRAPH
With a bank you receive the property when you sign and pay interest for twenty years. With Tanda Casa you contribute first and the property is deeded to you when you are adjudicated — month 18 with a 20% contribution, month 6 with 40%. No credit check, no income proof, and a cost below the Mexican mortgage market; in exchange, a wait you can shorten but not eliminate. If you need to close on a specific house next month, a bank or the developer is faster, and we would rather say so now than after you sign.
USING EQUITY BACK HOME
You may have been told to take a HELOC — a home equity line of credit — or a cash-out refinance on the house you already own in the US or Canada, and arrive in Mexico as a cash buyer. The rate is genuinely lower. But it is worth being clear about what that is: it is US debt secured by your US home, not Mexican financing. If payments become difficult, the house at risk is the one you live in. It also does nothing for you if you do not own property at home, or do not want to encumber it. It is a real option and we mention it because it is; it simply answers a different question than this page does. The full comparison of every route, including the US ones, is here.
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