The Bank of Bermuda will be holding mortgage seminars for Portuguese-speaking Islanders on ?How to own a piece of the rock? on Tuesday, at 5.30 p.m. on June 22 and Thursday, June 24 at the bank?s Compass Point Building on Bermudiana Road.

Since April when the bank reduced all personal loan interest rates, including mortgages by 0.50 percent, there have been six mortgage seminars on the process of buying a home. Almost 350 have attended the seminars in April and May. ?Our first series of seminars proved to be a tremendous success and the high participant numbers clearly indicated that there is a need in the community for information on home ownership,? said Frederica Forth, business development manager, personal loans. ?Bank of Bermuda is a community bank and we welcome all sectors of our diverse community. The Portuguese people play a very important role here in Bermuda and we invite them to attend these seminars that will provide them with very important information on home ownership.?

The seminars will look at housing trends, offers and counter offers, home inspections and title searches, financing and transfer of ownership. They will be conducted by Ms Forth is English and Ana Martins in Portuguese. Ms Martins is senior credit administrator, personal financial services. Other speakers include Hil and Denis Defrias from Mello Jones & Martin and William Medeiros from Rego Realtors. Bank representatives Maria Medeiros Savoury and Teresa Camera Burgess will also be available to assist with questions and translation.