Key Post I have an EBS tracker – should I consider fixing?

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Moderator's note: If you want to ask whether you should fix or not (or switch to another lender), please provide the following information:
1) Existing tracker margin. (This is set in your mortgage contract.)
  • If your tracker margin is 1%, please state it in the following format to avoid confusion: ECB + 1%
2) If you have an additional mortgage on the same property, what is the rate?
  • E.g., "Fixed at 2% with three and a half years of the fixed-rate period remaining."
3) Amount outstanding on your mortgage
  • If you have both a tracker and a second mortgage on the property, specify the amount outstanding on each
4) Remaining term
5) Lender
6) Value of your home
7) Might you trade up or overpay your mortgage?
8) Do you face any barriers to switching? E.g., an impaired credit record, a mortgage with a warehoused portion due to a restructuring, reduced income since you took out your mortgage, you are now renting out the property.
9) What rates are you considering fixing at?
10) Does your house have a high BER rating which might qualify it for a lower rate? Check it here or estimate it if necessary.
11) How well could you handle a further 2% rise in the ECB rate?



Hi Brendan

Looking for advice on switching EBS tracker, in particular switching to EBS green rate 2.1% for 4 years fixed. Not sure if we should fix our tracker mortgage or not , confused

1) Existing tracker margin ECB + 1.05% , from Oct 2022 - 2.3%
2) N/A
3) Amount outstanding on your mortgage €176000
4) Remaining term 12 years
5) Lender EBS
6) Value of your home €325K
7) Might you trade up or overpay your mortgage? Yes planning to overpay 10K per annum
8) Do you face any barriers to switching. No
9) What rates are you considering fixing at? EBS green rate 2.1% for 4 years fixed
10) Does your house have a high BER rating which might qualify it for a lower rate? Check it here or estimate it if necessary. - BER B3

Would appreciate your Advice please
 
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Yeah, the 4 year 2.1% rate seems pretty clear.

The longest fix EBS does is 5 years and that would be 2.75% so that is too high.

You are losing your tracker to fix for 4 years. But after 4 years, your balance will be down to €122k or €80k after overpayments of €10k a year, so the lowest rate now while the balance is high is most important.

If you are sure you are going to overpay by €10k, then maybe fix and shorten the term so that you are not making overpayments and won't face early repayment penalties. ( I don't think EBS allows penalty-free overpayments?)

Brendan
 
1) Existing tracker margin ECB + 0.6
2) N/A
3) Amount outstanding on your mortgage €138000
4) Remaining term 11 years
5) Lender EBS
6) Value of your home €600k
7) Might you trade up or overpay your mortgage? Not for 4 years - (possible will pay off at that stage with pension lump sum all going well)
8) Do you face any barriers to switching. No
9) What rates are you considering fixing at? EBS green rate for 4 years fixed it was 2.1%, it’s now 2.6%?
10) Does your house have a high BER rating which might qualify it for a lower rate? Check it here or estimate it if necessary. - yes recent upgrades made it BER B3

Been procrastinating, was going to switch to 2.1%, for 4 years but now it’s increased have second thoughts and thinking the flexibility of the tracker is worth the additional cost…
 
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@50andOut

You are right on the margin of whether to fix or not. A 0.6% margin is very good.

Given that you might clear it in 4 years, it's probably better to stay on a tracker for flexibility.

Brendan
 
Hello,
Would greatly appreciate some expert advice please.
Details as follows:

1. ECB + 0.85%
2. n/a
3. Amount outstanding e106,000
4. remaining term 9 years, 5 months
5. Lender EBS
6. Valuation e300k
7. Plan to overpay by e1500 per annum
8. Poor credit rating, won't switch
9. Subject to BER rating of A1-B3, could potentially switch to Green rate, currently 3.1%.
If BER rate not suitable, then 5 year fixed at 3.75%.


Many thanks
 
@Odyssey

There is no point in giving up your tracker for a 3 year fixed and then facing whatever rate they wish to charge for the remaining 6 years.

So should you fix for 5 years which is the longest they allow?

The 5 year rate is 3.75%

With ECB rates at 3%, you will shortly be paying 3.85%. This may well rise to 4.35% if they raise the ECB rate to 3.5%

But no one really knows what happens after that.

.75% is a very good guaranteed margin to have so I would hold onto it. The fact that you are overpaying is another good reason for hanging onto a variable rate - overpaying is cleaner.

If you qualify for the 3.1% rate it would be a much closer decision.

So apply for the 3.1% rate and if you get it before it goes up, take it.

Brendan
 
I’m pretty sure the 3.1% Green rate is fixed for 4 years.

It’s a very close call, but I think I would probably fix for four years @3.1%, if available.
 
@Odyssey Even though AIB (the parent company of EBS) increased their rates on Thursday, EBS did not – but they could do so at any time.

So if you are interested in EBS's green 4-year fixed rate (3.1%), contact them immediately. But if you don't already have a BER cert with a rating of B3 or better (check here), you would need to organise an assessment, which will take a little time. And there is no guarantee that you would get the BER rating that you need.
 
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