ASN Financial Services, a subsidiary of ASN Holdings, has launched a mortgage product known as Home Investment Fund (HIF) to make home acquisition and mortgage repayments very easy for its customers.

HIF offers potential homeowners the opportunity and privilege of time to make a monthly contribution over a period of one to five years toward attaining 20 percent of the cost for the building from ASN Construction, while ASN Financial Services completes the payment with an affordable mortgage facility.

The remaining 80 percent, which is provided by ASN Financial Services as a mortgage facility, will be repaid by the client within a period of five to 30 years.

"With an interest rate of 20 percent variable, our mortgage facility is arguably the cheapest in the country.

"The good news is that while clients of HIF are contributing towards attaining the 20 percent for the building, their monthly contribution attracts an interest rate of 12 percent per annum," The Managing Director of ASN Financial Services, Mr. Johannes Okutu said.

He said the HIF home acquisition product attracts no hidden charges such as facility fees, search fee, closing fee -- adding that in the first year of acquiring building, ASN Financial Services provides free life insurance and mortgage protection.

"At ASN Financial Services leadership is one of our values, and it is explained as us striving to be the standard-setter of the financial services field and encourage our clients to be leaders in their communities.”

ASN Financial Services serves over 15,000 clients in different areas of financial needs with well-researched and value-added products.

Mr. Okutu said in 2013 ASN observed with keen interest the burgeoning population of Ghana and the clamour of its citizens for a place to retire to after the hard day's work called a home -- one of the essential needs of human beings, which should be affordable and not compromised.

"Corporate organisations and real-estate companies, realising this and the importance of a home to citizens and the nation at large, have taken to the business of home-building and home financing. The contracts provided by some of these companies can at best be described as extortionate.

"Most of these homeowners finally lose the buildings due to high interest rates and the unstable nature of our cedi against the dollar.”

He said ASN Construction and properties came into being as a member of ASN Holdings, with the sole mandate of providing affordable homes to Ghanaians living in Ghana and the Diaspora.

Having successfully built over 400 affordable homes, he said the company was faced with the issue of payment terms, mortgage and interest rate, but with launch of the HIF the challenges of buying homes with a lump-sum of money, or part-payment and unfavorable interest rate and dollar mortgages, are about to become a thing of the past.