# Has anyone successfully ported UB tracker to a new home?



## cormster1 (1 Jul 2013)

Hi

I am in the process of trying to move house and hold onto my Ulster Bank tracker in the process. I am not in NE and would be borrowing an addititonal 200K. We have been given an indication from the bank that they will approve the application on the basis of salarys etc. I am finding it impossible though to get specific information as to how all of this is handled in terms of the practical aspects. Initially I was told you would have a window of 6 months in which to rent and find a new home, then 3 months and more recently that you would have to close both sale and purchase on the same date. these are all obviously totally different scenarios. I seem to get different answers from different staff in UB and there are no written terms/conditions available. I am not at all sure there is much information available in branch either.

They will not process a formal written application until I have an address for the new property so I can't actually see how a letter of loan offer in this scenario would be worded. I had thought that someone here had managed to close on a new purchase and bring the tracker with them but I cannot find the thread now. If someone has been able to finalise on such a move I would appreciate greatly some info as to the "real" terms and operation of the scheme

Thanks


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## Brendan Burgess (1 Jul 2013)

If you do a search of askaboutmoney you will find at least one person who has documented their successful port of a tracker with UB. 

You should move quickly. I doubt if the generous deal which is available now will be available for much longer.


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## Junior79 (19 Aug 2013)

Hi cormster,
Just wondering have you had any success with UB? I'm in same situation, but can't sell house, they have different story for me every week.....v frustrating


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## cormster1 (20 Aug 2013)

Our application is in with Ulster Bank now, it took some time to secure a house to purchase.  OUr own house is sale agreed.  UB would not begin an application without the two being at "Sale Agreed" status.  

In that time frame UB have reduced their LTV on tracker portal to 85% which is a bit of a hit to absorb. 

 I am still in the dark as to how this will all actually work out but I think it is worth some stress to be able to keep the tracker if humanly possible.  The total absence of info on the product makes me think that they are not seriously promoting it but I will keep plugging away.  I have "fallback" approval from another bank for an amount considerably in excess of what I need but that is a last resort.


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## Brendan Burgess (20 Aug 2013)

cormster1 said:


> In that time frame UB have reduced their LTV on tracker portal to 85% which is a bit of a hit to absorb.
> 
> .



Can you give an example of what this means? 

Is it



Current house value| €180k 
Mortgage|€170k


Want to buy a house for| €300k
Maximum loan - 85%|€255k
Deposit needed |€45k


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## cormster1 (20 Aug 2013)

They mean on the amount in total being borrowed on the "new" house- initially they would advance a 90% mortgage on this, with some at my current tracker rate and the remainder at the SVR, which means we now need more of a deposit, as per your second example.  

Our particular figures (which I do not want to post here) mean we can just about do that once all other outlays are factored in, and any money we had earmarked to update the house we are buying is now being eaten up - as against that the ability to hold onto the tracker is significant and we are prepared to wait to renovate to keep the tracker.  

Maybe once UB process the application I will know more about the operation of the scheme, but it is incredibly frustrating to be working in the dark on it


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## Junior79 (22 Aug 2013)

Unreal! We have outstanding balance of 119k on offset tracker on current home. (Trying to sell this house....on market for long time). We need to borrow a sum of 80k to finish our new build which will be our PDH.... We have been told we can have the 80k @ our tracker rate and the 119k @ investment rate @5.1%. So we can port the tracker but only the amount we need on new home to finish build. New property value is in excess of 275k. So in a nutshell we would lose 40k of our tracker  mortgage to investment rate...
This is the latest scenario put to us, they have denied our first 2 applications for the 80k on grounds that 1) they don't give mortgages on unfinished houses and 2) we didn't have 18months left on our planning


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## Eschat (17 Sep 2013)

Brendan Burgess said:


> I doubt if the generous deal which is available now will be available for much longer.



I met with UB a couple of weeks ago to discuss porting my tracker. The porter (?) product is officially "volatile" which means it can be withdrawn at any time. This is the position since the start of 2013.

IMO Ulsterbank's motivation in offering this product is two part:

1. To increase the apparent _health_ of their loan book by reducing LTV ratios, even if that means increasing the _size_ of the loan book.

2. To create potential to gouge their tracker customer base by increasing SVR rates in future. 

Achieving these will make the Irish operation either more profitable to keep or easier to sell on, depending on how the UK govt wants to proceed with RBS.

FWIW, right now I have about 93% LTV, with a new mortgage I'm aiming for 60% overall LTV to get the discounted rate (about 4%) with about half the loan on tracker and half on SVR.

From Ulsterbank's perspective, getting more of my skin in the game is the objective, the fact that the SVR part is profitable lending is a bonus.

So whilst you think this UB product is a "generous deal", I think UB are acting in their own cold self-interest, as one would expect of a well run financial institution.

I'm also guessing that they won't withdraw this product any time soon. Why would they?


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## Brendan Burgess (17 Sep 2013)

Eschat said:


> I
> 2. To create potential to gouge their tracker customer base by increasing SVR rates in future.



I don't get this bit? How can they gouge the tracker customer if they allow them to port the tracker?  The rate goes in line with the ECB rate. 

The balance of the loan will be on SVR and they will be "gouging" all SVR cusomers equally. 

Have you been formally offered a tracker?


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## Eschat (17 Sep 2013)

Brendan,

I've been given approval in principle for porting of my tracker with additional SVR loan. They won't offer full approval until I am Sale Agreed on my current house and have the address of the new property to bid on.

They can't change my tracker rate, but that would only be half of my borrowings.

The point is that by offering the porting product they're turning me from a pure tracker customer with near-zero equity (massive liability and not profitable) to a part-SVR customer with 60% equity (low-risk and profitable).

The tracker portion also makes it impossible for me to switch in future should their SVR rates become uncompetitive.

Imagine they converted all their tracker customers to 50/50 tracker/SVR customers @ 60% LTV. They could then add 2% to the SVR, all the 100% SVR customers would defect and they'd be left with a bunch of immobile ported customers forced to pay over the odds.

I've honestly no idea what the state of the UB loan book is, but offering porting of trackers to customers with savings and a desire to trade up makes it look better.


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## Brendan Burgess (17 Sep 2013)

Hi Eschat

Well the alternative for you now  is to take out a 100% SVR mortgage with Bank of Ireland. 



> all the 100% SVR customers would defect and they'd be left with a bunch  of immobile ported customers forced to pay over the odds.



Why are they immobile?  If your SVR is 6% and your Tracker is 2%, the average is 4%. If Bank of Ireland is less than 4%, you can move.  I think it is unlikely that you will see UB's SVR being 2% higher than the cheapest alternative, but it is possible.


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## Eschat (17 Sep 2013)

Even if BOI were offering less than 4%, only a loon would give up a part-tracker mortgage because of the downside risk of SV rates being upped further.

Ulsterbank are using tracker porting to erode a massive potential liability. I just don't see how it would be in their interests to stop doing this.

On a related issue, the requirement to go Sale Agreed before full offer and complete the sale and purchase at more or less the same time is, whilst understandable from UB's perspective, seriously problematic given the current low level of activity even in Dublin. Chains are stressful enough without the risk of losing a tracker.


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## Brendan Burgess (17 Sep 2013)

Eschat said:


> Even if BOI were offering less than 4%, only a loon would give up a part-tracker mortgage because of the downside risk of SV rates being upped further.



So the UB tracker offer is good for the customer?


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## Eschat (17 Sep 2013)

That rather depends on one's definition of "good".

It allows a customer to increase their exposure to the Irish residential property market, an investment which we all know cannot possibly go wrong.


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