When moving house did you shop around for a cheaper mortgage?

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

Founder
Messages
53,464
I was speaking to a friend who is moving house and she got mortgage approval from her current lender, ptsb, and didn't bother shopping around.

I can understand how inertia would make people slow to switch lenders, but if you are changing ownership, it would be a great opportunity to switch lender.

I am interested in the actual experience of people who have moved in the last year?

1) Did you check with other lenders?
2) If not, why not?
3) If so, did you actually switch lenders?
4) If so, why?
5) Did you use a mortgage broker?
6) Did you have a choice of lenders?
 
I am currently moving, closing the sale in the next few weeks.

I stayed with my current mortgage provoder as they had a cash back offer and also allowed me to keep my tracker for a few years (at a higher rate of course). Without that, I'd have looked around for sure
 
Thanks Delboy. I didn't think that they gave cash back to existing customers?

Which lender was it? And was the cash back just on the extra amount borrowed?
 
Hi Brendan

I moved last year from KBC. I did not have a tracker and was on the 4.5% that KBC would not reduce so I would not even think about giving them any more of my money. I did not use a mortgage broker and from reading the forum regularly knew that AIB and Ulster treated their existing customers the same as new ones so they were the only ones I would consider. I had approval from both AIB and Ulster bank but the 1500 in fees and very similar interest rates was the reason I choose Ulster.

Aidan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Thanks Delboy. I didn't think that they gave cash back to existing customers?

Which lender was it? And was the cash back just on the extra amount borrowed?
Click to expand...
BoI.
2% cash back on new amount borrowed.
And keep tracker rate for 5 years at +1%.

I know their rates are higher but those 2 incentives were too good to ignore from a short term persepective
 
I recently bought a house and went with BOI. I didn't approach any other lenders but did shop around online.

I went with them for the following reasons:
We need cash for renovation, so the 2% up front is worth more to me than the money spread over a period of time.
A portion of the loan is effectively bridging finance and will be repaid once our old house is sold. The 2% cashback on this portion should cover the interest repayments for the period until it is repaid, so it's like getting our bridging finance for free.

Also, through a combination of haggling and luck I got a competitive variable rate, so I'm not paying more than I would have been with any of the other providers.

In five years, when the clawback period ends, I'll look to move if the rate is no longer competitive.

I changed mortgage provider on my previous loan too, after about 5 years to avail of a tracker..


I'm sure you've thought of this already, but the responses on a financial message board will probably not be reflective of the general population.
 
John Locke said:
Also, through a combination of haggling and luck I got a competitive variable rate, so I'm not paying more than I would have been with any of the other providers.
Click to expand...

What rate did you get? How did you manage to haggle, and who did you talk to?

I was trying to haggle with AIB, BoI, PermanentTSB, and KBC regarding interest rates and none of them did even entertain any attempts.
They all stuck to the "this is the rate (usually as per their web site) - take it or leave it".
 
newirishman said:
What rate did you get? How did you manage to haggle, and who did you talk to?

I was trying to haggle with AIB, BoI, PermanentTSB, and KBC regarding interest rates and none of them did even entertain any attempts.
They all stuck to the "this is the rate (usually as per their web site) - take it or leave it".
Click to expand...

Our LTV was around 75% so they offered me their 80% LTV rate of 4.2%.

I asked if the could do anything on the rate and said I had looked at the variable rates that AIB were offering.

They came back to me with a 0.3 reduction, equivalent to the 60% LTV rate. That's as far as the haggling went :)

The luck was that we were about to draw down just before Christmas, and our loan amount was just outside the central bank income multiple limit. I got a call offering us a further 0.5 reduction if we could postpone drawdown until January 1st or reduce the loan amount below the 3.5 multiple.
We opted for the latter.
 
John Locke said:
The luck was that we were about to draw down just before Christmas, and our loan amount was just outside the central bank income multiple limit. I got a call offering us a further 0.5 reduction if we could postpone drawdown until January 1st or reduce the loan amount below the 3.5 multiple.
We opted for the latter.
Click to expand...

Wow! That's a lucky break!

Your experience shows that the banks are really running right up against the Central Bank limits, particularly when you consider that 20% of the total value of home loans advanced in any calendar year can exceed the 3.5 LTI limit.
 
Sarenco said:
Wow! That's a lucky break!
Click to expand...
Yes, it was a nice little Christmas present!

I should note that the bank didn't mention anything about the central bank rules but I think it was fairly clear that they were the reason for the bank's offer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top