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BUYING A HOUSE is generally the most significant purchase most of us will make in our lifetime.
It’s a decision that’s made with a huge level of thought and consideration as it tends to involve a mortgage of at least 15-20 years.
But did you know that it’s possible to switch mortgages and make savings across the life of your mortgage? Not many people do, and it’s definitely worth checking out as the savings over the course of your mortgage could be significant.
It’s easy to see how much you could be saving.
You have a remaining balance on your mortgage of €250,000
Your house has a market value of €350,000.
Your mortgage term is 25 years.
Your current monthly repayments are €1,400 on a variable interest rate.Using the mortgage switching calculator, you could potentially save €121 a month or €36,440 over the lifetime of your mortgage if you switched to a lower interest rate.*
*Remember this does not factor in any additional costs. This example is for illustrative purposes only. Rates correct as of February 2016.
The switching calculator can show you all the results for the different lenders, so you can see if switching your mortgage to another provider makes financial sense for you.
If it looks like you can make a saving over the life of your mortgage there are a number of steps to take.
Good luck.
If you think that you could be saving money by switching your mortgage head over to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and check out their mortgage switch calculator tool. There’s also lots of information about the next steps to take once you’ve decided to make the switch.
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And what about all us muppets in negative equity?
And those of us in estates with pyrite??
What about those of us in negative equity AND with pyrite.
Collateral damage I think is what the negative equity people are called ,we just loose simple
What about the 150,000 people who can’t switch because they are in negative equity, over 90% Loan to Value or have experienced mortgage arrears in recent years?
The average mortgage rate for new business in Ireland is 3.96% compared to 2.05% across the eurozone. The Central Bank has been misleading people for years by including tracker mortgage rates in it’s calculation of new business rates.
When Michael McGrath asked the CPPC to investigate, this is what the Chairman Iseult Goggin replied:
” I believe that a further study would not be useful at the present time as it would not resolve the issues inherent in the sector. Furthermore, I believe that the Commission’s resources would be more appropriately utilised in other areas where our work could achieve meaningful change.”
Irish families are being charges excessive interest of around €1 billion a year and the CPPC says that their resources would be more appropriately utilised in other areas.
What about the 150, 000 borrowers in negative equity, over 90% Loan to Value and arrears in recent years?
The average new business rate in Ireland is 3.96% while in the rest of the Eurozone it’s 2.06%.
With around €50 billion in non-tracker mortgages outstanding, that means that Irish consumers are paying excessive interest of around €1 billion each and every year.
Yet when Michael McGrath wrote to the Chairman of the CPPC, her unbelievable reply was:
” I believe that a further study would not be useful at the present time as it would not resolve the issues inherent in the sector. Furthermore, I believe that the Commission’s resources would be more appropriately utilised in other areas where our work could achieve meaningful change.”
They have not even highlighted the high charges. They have not made any statement on the issue. They have not commented on the plight of former Irish Nationwide borrowers whose loans are now owned by vulture funds.
What does the CCPC do? What are the “other areas” they have been “utilizing their resources” in?
Brendan
Well said Brendan…we who bought our houses in the boom to put a roof over our families heads are like “lepers” when it comes to addressing the issue of crazy rip off variable rates being charged by the financial institutions. It seems that Mr. Noonan believes that as long as the banks are profitable then it’s fine to charge these rates. Well it’s not!..& I for one will be voting sinn fein / independents..I hope the other 149,999 homeowners will do the same!!
Worth getting an up to date valuation done. Most banks offer a lower rate if your ltv fits within a certain bracket. My repayments dripped by €100 per month doing this and ptsb had an offer on at the time in which they paid for the valuation too
Yeah. I did that too. My LTV is well below 50% and my repayments dropped by a fiver a month! Still not sure what I’m going to spend it on!!!
If you can manage to reduce the amount every month consider not dropping the overall amount you pay. That means you could be knocking an additional amount solely off the capital amount of your mortgage then sit back and watch the term and balance drop significantly
Burn it all down.
We saved thousands not hundreds of euro, when we switched to first active now Ulster bank current account mortgage.
Change repayments from monthly to fortnightly, you end up paying more within the year (13 month equivalent) but interest is calculated on date of payment, the additional payments within the year and interest savings saves alot if you can afford to do so.
We pay weekly. It’s less annoying than a big lump every month and save on interest over the life of the mortgage.
No good for negative equity. Boo hiss
Hey stick that 50 Euro note into the flame a couple seconds then take the picture.
have your say