Questions borrowers ask before applying

Yes. YEN LOANS K.K. is a money lender registered with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under the Money Lending Business Act (MLBA), license Governor of Tokyo (1) No. 31998. Lending activity, disclosure, and dispute handling are governed by MLBA.

Our teams work in English, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean. Income evidence is accepted in English, Chinese or Japanese, with no requirement to translate documents. Offer documents are issued in English.

No. YEN LOANS does not require borrowers to hold a Japanese bank account, visa, residency status, or to incorporate a Japanese entity.

YEN LOANS lends to nationals of its eligible countries and regions, evidenced by the passport you hold: Australia, China (Mainland), Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Canada, the United States, EU member states, the United Kingdom. In addition, Japanese Permanent Residents who are nationals of India, Indonesia, Malaysia or Brazil are eligible. The full list and the supporting tests are set out on the Eligibility page.

Yes. Eligibility is currently by nationality — you hold a passport from one of our eligible countries and regions. Where you live does not otherwise change this: a national of a listed country qualifies wherever they are resident. There is one residence-based route: nationals of India, Indonesia, Malaysia or Brazil who hold Japanese Permanent Residency are also eligible.

The product described here — the eligibility tests, the pricing, and the full-recourse structure — is written for individual borrowers. If you are considering borrowing through a company, a special-purpose vehicle, or another structure, contact us to discuss it before you apply and we will tell you whether your case can be accommodated. We do not publish terms for corporate borrowing, as it is assessed separately from the standard product.

YEN LOANS borrowers must be over 20 at application and under 80 at loan maturity. Your age therefore also limits the maximum term available to you.

Income evidence — tax returns or equivalent — and recent bank statements, together with identification and your passport. Documents are accepted in English, Chinese or Japanese.

Yes. YEN LOANS assesses affordability against your verified gross income and existing debt commitments, in line with its lending criteria. The borrowing-power calculator gives an indicative figure for your own circumstances.

YEN LOANS lends against a strata-titled residential apartment of reinforced concrete (RC) or steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) construction, completed after 1990, in one of its qualifying metropolitan areas.

YEN LOANS lends in five metropolitan areas: Greater Tokyo (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba), Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo), Aichi (Nagoya), Fukuoka, and Hokkaido (Sapporo). The city-level list is on the Eligibility page.

Yes. Outside central Tokyo — the 23 Wards, Musashino, Mitaka and Chofu — the security property must be within a 10-minute walk of the nearest railway station.

YEN LOANS does not lend on wooden or steel-frame construction regardless of build year; buildings completed before 1990; detached houses and whole-building purchases; hotel-condominiums; akiya and other vacant or unmanaged stock; leasehold land (借地権); agricultural land; and re-building prohibited land (再建築不可).

The YEN LOANS All Japan Tracker is priced at 1-month TIBOR plus a fixed 3.50%, reset monthly. As at 1 September 2026 that gives an indicative rate of 4.73673% p.a. A premium of 0.50% p.a. applies to loans above ¥150M.

Because it is a different product for a different borrower, not a markup on the same loan. A Japanese lender's headline mortgage rate is built for a resident, salaried borrower whose income it can verify from Japanese tax documents — the 源泉徴収票 (Gensen Chōshū Hyō) — and who holds residency status, a Japanese bank account and, usually, permanent residency. A non-resident, self-employed, or foreign-income buyer falls outside that model, and most domestic lenders decline rather than reprice. YEN LOANS underwrites the case these lenders turn away: we assess income earned abroad and in foreign currency, lend without requiring Japanese residency, a visa or a local bank account, work in English, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean, and settle remotely. The rate reflects that specialist, cross-border underwriting and our position as a principal lender carrying the credit risk on the loans we offer. The fair comparison is not the advertised rate you cannot access, but the cost of the financing actually available to a non-resident buyer.

It is a tracker. The 3.50% is fixed for the life of the loan, but the underlying 1-month TIBOR rate is reset monthly, so your rate moves with it in both directions.

YEN LOANS lends between ¥15M and ¥525M, and up to 65% of the value established by an independent third-party valuation; the purchase price acts as a ceiling only. Maximum LTV reduces to 50% for short-term rental properties, second homes and loans over ¥250M. The amount is also subject to our affordability test.

A YEN LOANS mortgage can run for up to 35 years. The term is also capped so that you are under 80 at maturity, and so that the loan does not run beyond 50 years from the building's construction — whichever of the three binds first.

The loan is full recourse to the borrower personally. If enforcement of the security does not clear the outstanding balance, the borrower remains liable for the shortfall. YEN LOANS does not offer non-recourse lending.

Yes. YEN LOANS offers an interest-only period of up to five years, during which the rate carries a 1.00% p.a. premium and no principal is repaid, so the balance does not fall. After it ends the premium is removed and the loan amortizes at the base rate over the remaining term — which means the monthly payment steps up materially. Model both figures with the calculator before choosing it.

YEN LOANS charges a commitment fee of ¥220,000 and an appraisal fee of ¥110,000 when you apply. A loan origination fee of 2.2% of the loan, a loan entrustment fee of ¥44,000, a payment reserve, and stamp tax are settled at completion. A loan maintenance fee of ¥39,600 per year applies thereafter. All amounts include Japanese consumption tax where marked. The full schedule is on the Fees page.

Two are due at application. The remainder are deducted from the loan proceeds you receive at settlement, so there is nothing further to pay on the day itself — they reduce the net amount advanced rather than requiring separate cash.

Yes. You may prepay up to 10% of the outstanding balance in any twelve-month period without penalty, subject to a minimum partial prepayment of ¥500,000. Above that threshold a penalty applies in the first three years only — 3% in year one, 2% in year two, 1% in year three. From the 37th month onwards there is no prepayment penalty.

Buying and owning Japanese property carries taxes that are separate from the loan and are your responsibility as owner. The main ones are Real Estate Acquisition Tax (不動産取得税, Fudōsan Shutoku-zei), a one-off prefectural tax on purchase; Fixed Asset Tax (固定資産税, Kotei Shisan-zei), an annual municipal tax on the property's assessed value; and, if you let the property, Japanese income tax on the rental income — typically withheld at source where a local managing agent is used. As a non-resident owner you may also have reporting or tax obligations in your country of residence on both rental income and any gain on a later sale, subject to any double-tax treaty between Japan and that country. YEN LOANS does not provide tax advice: this area is complex and jurisdiction-specific, so consult a qualified tax adviser familiar with both Japanese property tax and the rules where you are resident. The stamp tax on the loan document itself is listed on the Fees page.

Day-to-day servicing of the loan is handled by a specialist third-party loan servicer on our behalf. YEN LOANS remains your lender throughout: we lend as principal, make the credit decisions and retain the credit risk on the loans we offer. Payments are made monthly in yen, and a loan maintenance fee of ¥39,600 a year applies (see the Fees page). If your circumstances change during the term, tell us early — it is always better to raise something before a payment is missed.

The loan is denominated in yen: your payments and the outstanding balance are both in yen, and neither changes with the exchange rate. If the property earns rent in Japan, that yen income services the yen debt directly — a natural currency match, with no conversion. If instead you meet the payments from income in another currency, the exchange rate will change what the loan costs you in your own currency: if your currency weakens against the yen each payment costs you more, and if it strengthens, less. YEN LOANS does not provide currency hedging or advice on it — if your income is not in yen, plan for how you will fund the payments across the life of the loan.

Yes — there is no requirement to hold the property for the full term. On a sale, the outstanding loan is repaid from the proceeds at completion and YEN LOANS' first-priority mortgage (抵当権, teitōken) over the property is discharged at the same time, so clear title passes to your buyer. Because a sale repays the loan in full, the early-repayment terms apply — a prepayment penalty applies within the first three years, tapering to nil from the 37th month; see“Can I repay the loan early?” above for the detail.

Contact us as early as you can — ideally before a payment is missed. The loan is secured by a first-priority mortgage over the property and is full recourse to you personally, so sustained non-payment can ultimately lead to enforcement of that security, and you would remain liable for any shortfall a sale did not clear. That is a last resort, not a first step: where a borrower engages early, we would look at the options before it reaches that point. Collections and any enforcement are conducted in accordance with the Money Lending Business Act (MLBA), and the specific consequences of late payment are set out in your loan documentation.

Most YEN LOANS borrowers receive a credit decision within about ten business days of a completed application, and settlement can follow in as little as around thirty days. In practice the timeline is set by several things — the completion date agreed for your purchase, the property, your jurisdiction, document turnaround and scheduling — so it commonly runs to six to eight weeks.

Four: an inquiry and initial assessment — reach us by phone or email, complete a short client intake form, and receive a preliminary indication within 24 to 48 hours; the application, with a non-refundable commitment and appraisal fee and a credit decision in about ten business days; confirmation and loan documentation on approval; then settlement, in as little as around thirty days and usually within six to eight weeks. The detail is on the Process page.

No. Settlement can be completed entirely remotely. If you are not able to attend in person, you may grant a power of attorney for completion to be carried out on your behalf, so there is no requirement to travel to Japan for the transaction.

On the settlement date (決済, Kessai) the price and the loan are exchanged through escrow, and the change of ownership and the mortgage are registered together at the Legal Affairs Bureau by YEN LOANS' designated judicial scrivener (司法書士). Settlement can be completed remotely, without travel to Japan.