If you recently started a new job and are still on probationary status, you may be wondering whether you can still refinance your home loan in the Philippines. It's a common and important question — many Filipino homeowners find themselves in exactly this situation, especially after a career change that comes with better pay but a temporary probationary period. The short answer is: refinancing during probation is difficult but not always impossible, and the outcome depends heavily on the bank, your overall financial profile, and how you prepare your application.
This FAQ guide breaks down everything you need to know about refinancing during a probationary period in the Philippines — from how banks assess your employment status to practical strategies that can improve your chances of approval. If you're currently paying a home loan rate of 7% or higher, understanding your refinancing options could save you tens of thousands of pesos over the life of your loan, so it's worth exploring every avenue available to you.
Technically yes, but it is significantly more challenging. Most Philippine banks — including BDO, BPI, Metrobank, and Security Bank — require borrowers to demonstrate stable employment, which typically means being a regular or permanent employee. If you are on probation, most lenders will either decline your application outright or require you to wait until you have been regularized before proceeding.
That said, a few banks evaluate applications on a case-by-case basis, especially if you have a strong overall credit profile, a low loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, a solid payment history on your existing loan, and can present a formal employment contract that clearly states your salary and regularization timeline. Refinancing is not off the table — it simply requires more preparation and, in many cases, the right broker to match you with the most flexible lender available.
Banks are primarily concerned with your ability to make consistent monthly payments over the full term of the loan — which can be 15 to 25 years. A probationary employee, by definition, does not yet have guaranteed long-term employment. If your employer decides not to regularize you, your income could suddenly stop, increasing the bank's risk significantly.
Philippine labor law also allows employers to terminate probationary employees within the probationary period (usually six months) without the same legal protections afforded to regular employees. This legal reality makes lenders cautious. Even if your salary is high and your credit history is clean, banks price in the risk of income instability when assessing any loan application, including refinancing.
There is no single bank that openly advertises a policy of accepting probationary employees for refinancing, and policies can change based on internal lending guidelines. However, in general, smaller or mid-sized banks — such as RCBC, EastWest Bank, Robinsons Bank, and PSBank — may have more room for case-by-case evaluation compared to the largest institutions like BDO or Metrobank, which tend to apply stricter automated underwriting criteria.
Pag-IBIG (HDMF) is another option worth considering if you are a member in good standing, as their assessment process differs from commercial banks. If you currently have a Pag-IBIG home loan and are exploring a move to a private bank, it may actually be worth waiting until after regularization to get the best possible rate. The key takeaway: lender flexibility varies widely, and working with a mortgage broker gives you the best chance of identifying which institution is most likely to approve your specific situation.
The standard refinancing documents apply regardless of your employment status, but you will need to pay extra attention to employment-related paperwork if you are on probation. Here is what most banks will require:
- Completed loan application form
- Valid government-issued IDs (at least two)
- Certificate of Employment (COE) — this must explicitly state your position, salary, and probationary end date
- Employment contract showing your regularization date and terms
- Latest one to three months of payslips
- Latest Income Tax Return (ITR) — though this may reflect your previous employer's income
- Bank statements for the past three to six months
- Title to the property (TCT or CCT)
- Latest Statement of Account from your current lender
- Tax Declaration and Deed of Absolute Sale (if applicable)
A strong COE that clearly states your salary, start date, regularization schedule, and that you are performing satisfactorily can make a meaningful difference in how the bank evaluates your application.
Yes — adding a co-borrower who is a regular employee with a stable income and a clean credit record is one of the most effective strategies for improving your refinancing application while you are on probation. Banks look at the combined financial strength of all borrowers on the application, so a co-borrower's stable employment can offset the risk associated with your probationary status.
Common co-borrowers in the Philippines include a spouse, a parent, a sibling, or another close family member. The co-borrower must be willing to have their credit assessed and will be legally liable for the loan alongside you. If your co-borrower has a strong credit history, a high income relative to the loan amount, and has been employed in a regular capacity for several years, this can be a decisive factor in getting your refinancing approved even while you are on probation.
For many borrowers, waiting until regularization is the most practical and financially sound approach. The standard probationary period in the Philippines is six months, and once you are regularized, your application becomes dramatically stronger. Banks will have much more confidence in your income stability, and you are more likely to qualify for the lowest available rates — currently as low as 5.99% per annum through Nook.
The cost of waiting depends on how much you are currently paying above market rates. For example, if you have an outstanding balance of 3,500,000 pesos and are currently at 8.5% interest, you are paying roughly 24,792 pesos per month in interest alone. At 5.99%, that same balance would result in substantially lower monthly payments. Six months of waiting at the higher rate has a real cost, but attempting to refinance on probation and being declined can also delay your timeline if it triggers a hard credit inquiry. Evaluate both sides carefully.
The savings can be substantial. Here is a concrete example to illustrate the potential impact:
Assume you have an outstanding home loan balance of 4,000,000 pesos with 20 years remaining, and your current interest rate is 8% per annum. Your approximate monthly payment at that rate is around 33,458 pesos. If you refinance to 5.99% per annum, your new monthly payment drops to approximately 28,628 pesos — a monthly savings of roughly 4,830 pesos. Over the full 20-year remaining term, that is a total savings of more than 1,159,000 pesos in interest payments.
Even if you only hold the refinanced loan for five years before selling or re-refinancing, the savings over that period would exceed 289,000 pesos. Nook's service is completely free to the borrower, meaning you keep all of those savings without paying broker fees. The sooner you qualify and lock in a lower rate, the more you save over time.
Self-employed individuals and freelancers face a different but similarly challenging set of criteria compared to probationary employees. Philippine banks generally require self-employed borrowers to have been operating their business or freelance practice for a minimum of two years, with documented income through ITRs, audited financial statements, and business registration papers.
If you recently transitioned from salaried employment to self-employment or freelancing, most banks will want to see at least two years of consistent self-employment income before approving a refinancing application. That said, if your income is high relative to the loan amount and you have an excellent payment track record, some banks may assess your situation more favorably. A specialized guide on refinancing with a non-standard financial profile can offer additional strategies relevant to your situation.
In the Philippines, the credit bureau landscape is still developing, but the Credit Information Corporation (CIC) and bureaus like CIBI and TransUnion Philippines do record loan inquiries and application statuses. A hard credit inquiry — the type that happens when a bank formally reviews your credit report as part of a loan application — can have a small negative effect on your credit score, and a rejection may also be recorded.
If you are concerned about this, the best strategy is to do your research and pre-qualification work before formally submitting an application. Working with a mortgage broker like Nook allows you to understand your likely eligibility before any hard inquiry is made, reducing the risk of unnecessary rejections appearing on your credit record. Multiple rejections within a short period can signal credit risk to future lenders, so it is better to apply strategically than to submit to multiple banks at once without guidance.
Nook is the Philippines' first digital mortgage broker, and we help Filipino homeowners navigate the refinancing process from start to finish — completely free of charge to the borrower. Our role is to assess your current situation, match you with the most suitable lender from our panel of Philippine banks, and guide you through documentation, submission, and approval.
If you are currently on probation, we can give you an honest assessment of whether it makes sense to apply now or wait, and we can help you identify which banks on our panel are most likely to consider your profile. If you are close to regularization, we can prepare everything in advance so you are ready to submit the moment you receive your regularization letter. Whether your loan is with BDO, BPI, Metrobank, Pag-IBIG, or any other institution, Nook can help you explore your options and potentially lock in a rate as low as 5.99% per annum — saving you hundreds of thousands of pesos over the life of your loan.