Advice re: end of term mortgage

I was just looking for some advice. I have a 20 year mortgage with PTSB which is due to finish in just over 3 years time. After watching 'Show me the Money' last night, I was intrigued to see Eddie advising the girl in it to switch her mortgage, because her mortgage had been reduced below 50% of the value of the property, she would be entitled to get a reduced rate at 0.5% by another lender.
We are currently paying €476 per month, but with just over 3 years to go (roughly about €20K left on it)
Would we be better off going to another lender trying to get a reduced rate, I still want to keep the same term or less, or is it possible to borrow from the Credit union and pay the mortgage off, also is there a penalty with PTSB for paying off mortgage earlier?
Any advice greatly received. Thanks

Slippers said:

Would we be better off going to another lender trying to get a reduced rate, I still want to keep the same term or less, or is it possible to borrow from the Credit union and pay the mortgage off, also is there a penalty with PTSB for paying off mortgage earlier?

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There should be nothing to stop you switching, unless you have a fixed rate mortgage, in which case a penalty may be triggered on termination/redemption.

As far as I am aware, NIB are the cheapest for a LTV of less than 50%.

You will have to pay legal fees to switch, somewhere in the region of €1,000-some lenders will cover this.

As to borrowing from the Credit Union to repay the mortgage-why? I don't think you will get mortgage rates from the CU?

Check with any prospective lenders to see if they have minimum mortgage amounts, or minima to qualify for discounted/free switching. If so, the saving you'd make over 3 years on €20,000 borrowing would not justify the expense of switching.