# New mortgage - no tracker option



## nigel27 (23 Dec 2015)

I purchased my first home in 2004 and had a tracker mortgage with Ulster Bank. In 2007 I sold my house and bought a new house. I had to take out a new mortgage. When  doing this I was told I had to either choose a SVR or fixed rate. I couldn't/wasn't offered a chance to keep my tracker. Should I query this with the bank or financial ombudsman?


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## Brendan Burgess (23 Dec 2015)

No. You took out a new mortgage and you lost your old mortgage. 

These days, some of the banks allow people to move their tracker to a new property, but they are under no legal obligation to do so.

Brendan


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## Monbretia (23 Dec 2015)

It wasn't a question of keeping your original tracker.  You were taking a brand new mortgage and subject to whatever they were offering at the time, as to why you didn't get the offer of a tracker in 2007 I don't know, maybe it wasn't an option for some reason for the amount/term/property or some other reason.   Did they tell you why you couldn't have one?  Did you actually ask for one?


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## nigel27 (23 Dec 2015)

Monbretia said:


> It wasn't a question of keeping your original tracker.  You were taking a brand new mortgage and subject to whatever they were offering at the time, as to why you didn't get the offer of a tracker in 2007 I don't know, maybe it wasn't an option for some reason for the amount/term/property or some other reason.   Did they tell you why you couldn't have one?  Did you actually ask for one?


I asked at the time but was told you couldn't get a tracker on a 2nd mortgage. The bank were offering tracker mortgages at the time. We were very eager to move home and didn't really query anything. 


Brendan Burgess said:


> No. You took out a new mortgage and you lost your old mortgage.
> 
> These days, some of the banks allow people to move their tracker to a new property, but they are under no legal obligation to do so.
> 
> Brendan


I understand that the banks don't offer trackers and some allow moving trackers to new properties but this was in 2007 before the "crash"!


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## Monbretia (23 Dec 2015)

Maybe that was a policy they had at the time, if so then that was their perogative, no law says they have to offer it to everyone.   I never did hear of that policy though but that's not to say it didn't exist.


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## Sarenco (23 Dec 2015)

nigel27 said:


> The bank were offering tracker mortgages at the time. We were very eager to move home and didn't really query anything.



It's an expensive lesson, but ultimately you accepted the terms of a lender's offer.  That was your decision, however poorly judged (with the benefit of hindsight).

If one good thing comes out of our recent history, it's that consumers will finally realise that banks are not on their side (whatever their advertising suggests) - they are in the business of making a return on capital for the benefit of their equity holders.  Just like any other business in this regard.

Incidentally, when banks talk about "tracker mover" products what they really mean is that they will offer a new home loan to a borrower on the same terms as an existing loan (usually with a variation to the margin over the reference rate) - the mortgage doesn't actually "move" anywhere.


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## Brendan Burgess (24 Dec 2015)

nigel27 said:


> In 2007 I sold my house and bought a new house. I had to take out a new mortgage. When doing this I was told I had to either choose a SVR or fixed rate.





nigel27 said:


> The bank were offering tracker mortgages at the time. We were very eager to move home and didn't really query anything.



Hi nigel 

I have heard people complain about not being offered trackers when they were available.  It's a strange argument. 

I asked my bank, AIB for a tracker mortgage and they told me that they were not doing tracker mortgages. So I said, fine, and said I would take out a Bank of Scotland mortgage. 

If UB refused you a tracker, you could have asked a different lender for it.


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