I see it differently from various aspects:
- Free deed storage
- Keeping loan principal to a low value like 100-200 euros and spreading that repayment over 15-20 years does nothing to hurt you even if interest rate increase. The trade off is, It is more or less free fees practically until when you retire (Assuming most people's mortgage is to finish near retirement age). You can say it is paying for itself. That is a tradeoff I can live with.
- It gives alternative option as back up banking (although I have to say AIB has been my main back since I was in secondary school, where as Revolut is my back up).
- Mortgage protection side depends on what cover you took out. It probably is not worth it is you took out "Reducing term cover" (i.e. same premium but reducing payout based on the loan balance). For my own example, I took out "level term dual life cover" mortgage protection. The premium is a little bit more expensive (though not too much) but the payout in the event of first death will be the full initial mortgage loan amount. It will also pay out on second death (provided still within the lifetime of the loan term) as long as the premium payment continues after first death occur. So even if I pay off the mortgage in full tomorrow and I keep paying the premium, I can treat the mortgage protection cover like a life insurance until the end of the loan term. I'm certainly not giving that up. Approximately 10.5K worth of premium payment over 28 years for potentially dual payout of 205K is well worth it in my book.
- Majority of people will likely get one shot at getting a mortgage in their lifetime. This sort of opportunity to get a leg up on the banks may not come around as easily again.
Anyway I have digressed, it might not work for some people but I cannot see any downside to this for my scenario when my day comes.
Also does it really hurt to have alternative banking option? Like the BoI ATM glitch issue and some recent one I read about PTSB system went down when the user was abroad. I wouldn't like Revolut to go down and I'm stuck with no alternative. At the end of the day I see value in having different options and if it is practically free with not much effort, I'd take it.