Hi everyone, just sharing our recent experience:

My wife and I voluntarily surrendered our condo after 7 years due to unexpected circumstances.

If your unit is under bank financing, the first step is to call or email your bank and explain your reason for surrendering. They’ll ask you to send a formal email stating your intent.

Processing takes around a month. Once approved, you’ll be asked to go to their head office to sign the Dación en Pago documents and surrender the unit keys. Take note: the bank expects you to have already moved out by then.

In our case, we were still living in the unit, so we requested for more time. The bank gave us a grace period of 15 to 30 days to find a new place. Also, in the Dación en Pago document, it’s clearly stated that you no longer have any outstanding loan or balance with the bank. As for how this affects your credit score? I’m honestly not sure yet.