Bank Housing Loan Requirements Philippines: The Complete 2026 Checklist

Applying for a housing loan in the Philippines can feel like navigating a maze. Every bank has its own checklist, its own forms, and its own quirks. Miss one document and your application stalls for weeks. Submit to the wrong bank and you've wasted months chasing a rate that wasn't competitive to begin with.

This guide cuts through the confusion. Below is a consolidated, bank-by-bank breakdown of housing loan requirements across all major Philippine lenders in 2026 — plus a master checklist you can use to prepare once and apply everywhere.

Why Requirements Vary Between Banks

Before diving into the checklist, it helps to understand why banks ask for different documents. Every lender is essentially trying to answer three questions: Can you repay the loan? Is the property worth what you're paying? And is your title clean?

The documents they require are just different ways of answering those same questions. A BDO loan officer and a BPI loan officer want the same information — they just have different forms and internal processes to collect it. That's why preparing a complete master file puts you in a strong position with every bank simultaneously.

The Universal Requirements (Every Bank Asks for These)

Regardless of which bank you approach, expect to submit all of the following:

Personal Identification

Proof of Income — Employed Applicants

Proof of Income — Self-Employed Applicants

Property Documents

Loan Application Form

Bank-by-Bank Requirements: What's Different

Once you have the universal documents, here's what each major bank adds or emphasizes differently:

BDO Unibank

BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands)

Metrobank

Security Bank

RCBC (Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation)

UnionBank

Chinabank (China Banking Corporation)

PNB (Philippine National Bank)

EastWest Bank

Pag-IBIG (HDMF)

Special Situations: Extra Documents You May Need

If You Are an OFW

If You Are Refinancing an Existing Loan

If the Property Has a Pending Title Transfer

What Banks Are Actually Looking For: The 5 C's

Behind all these documents, every bank is evaluating you on five dimensions:

Understanding these criteria helps you present your documents in the strongest possible light — and helps you understand why some banks may be more suitable for your situation than others.

The Master Checklist: Prepare Once, Apply Everywhere

Here is your complete preparation list. Gather these before approaching any bank:

How Nook Simplifies This Process

Preparing this checklist once is manageable. But then submitting it — separately, to five or six different banks, tracking each application, responding to different follow-up requests, comparing offers that arrive at different times in different formats — that's where most applicants lose weeks of their life.

Nook is the Philippines' first digital mortgage broker. You prepare your documents once, upload them to Nook's platform, and Nook submits your application to multiple banks simultaneously. When offers come back, you see them side by side: interest rate, monthly amortization, fixing period, fees — all in one place.

The best refinance rate currently available through Nook is 5.99% per annum. Most Filipino homeowners are currently paying between 7% and 10%. On a 4,000,000-peso loan, moving from 8.5% to 5.99% over a 20-year term saves roughly 46,000 pesos per year in interest — and Nook's service is completely free to the borrower.

Whether you are buying your first home or refinancing an existing loan, Nook makes the multi-bank process as simple as a single application.