Bank of Ireland Variable rate followed by switch

Hope some of you can give me advice on a mortgage query I have.

Currently awaiting to close on a property and have been for some time. Thankfully we are looking at closing in the next two weeks.

Our loan offer is 4.45% variable. Aware that it isn't the best available right now but it does come with 2% cash back ( just shy of 8k in my case).

My understanding is that with a variable we can move and switch our mortgage at any time, or at least it is easier done than with a fixed rate.

We have thought about moving once our cash back comes in. What would we need to do?

Am I right to think that there could be a fee to move from our variable and that there would be solicitor fees for moving our mortgage?

Both in our mid 20s and are the first in our wider circles to embark on getting a mortgage. Parents are not really in the picture so would appreciate any guidance or knowledge that can be offered.

Perhaps some of the threads here might be of interest to you?

If you move to a different lender, you need a sol.

The original mortgage will be repaid, and a new mortgage started.

That needs a sol.

Protocol said:

That needs a sol.

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And that will eat up some of 8k cashback you’ve got (unless new lender will provide cash to cover solicitor fees).

While you can in theory switch immediately, most of the other lenders seem to require you to be with your existing lender for a certain period.

Last I've seen Bank of Ireland does not offer cashback for variable rate. For this reason I am going with 1 year fixed. Are you certain you are getting cashback?

coolwap said:

Last I've seen Bank of Ireland does not offer cashback for variable rate. For this reason I am going with 1 year fixed. Are you certain you are getting cashback?

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We are, it was agreed in March 24. Know that the terms changed in April.

Nice.
Please let us know how it goes because I am considering to do the same with PTSB as they are still offering 2% cashback on a variable rate.

We are in the same boat with BOI, got mortgage offer before they took away the cashback deal as it took us nearly 6 months between going sale agreed and getting the keys.

We have a fairly chunky mortgage (€700k) so the cashback was €14k from BOI. Our payments begin in Nov @4.45% as we also took a three month sabbatical.

Did you ask BOI if there was any clawback on the cashback? We got no clear indications from them either way but according to some previous threads, they can't.

Interested to hear how you get on.

We are renovating so hoping to get to a B2/B3 and avail of a much lower green mortgage rate elsewhere in maybe Q2 next year (when rates have hopefully reduced even further).

elricardo said:

We are in the same boat with BOI, got mortgage offer before they took away the cashback deal as it took us nearly 6 months between going sale agreed and getting the keys.

We have a fairly chunky mortgage (€700k) so the cashback was €14k from BOI. Our payments begin in Nov @4.45% as we also took a three month sabbatical.

Did you ask BOI if there was any clawback on the cashback? We got no clear indications from them either way but according to some previous threads, they can't.

Interested to hear how you get on.

We are renovating so hoping to get to a B2/B3 and avail of a much lower green mortgage rate elsewhere in maybe Q2 next year (when rates have hopefully reduced even further).

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Haven't got confirmation from BOI but the broker has said that nobody will take us on without a year of mortgage payments made.

Also looking to get some work done, new heating system and solar, possibly some of the windows if the budget allows with an eye to getting a green rate in the future.

Don't suppose you've heard anything more?

CHOC97 said:

Haven't got confirmation from BOI but the broker has said that nobody will take us on without a year of mortgage payments made.

Also looking to get some work done, new heating system and solar, possibly some of the windows if the budget allows with an eye to getting a green rate in the future.

Don't suppose you've heard anything more?

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With the new BOI rates cuts today, I've just asked them to fix for 1 year @3.5% (our BER is currently E2).

Have also heard similar about not being able to switch for a year so figured we may as well take the best rate we can and fix for a year......it's a decent saving from staying in the 4.45% rate for us.

elricardo said:

With the new BOI rates cuts today, I've just asked them to fix for 1 year @3.5% (our BER is currently E2).

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Even though the ECB rate is almost certain to be cut again next month?

ClubMan said:

Even though the ECB rate is almost certain to be cut again next month?

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I suspect it will only be a 0.25 cut which BOI may not even pass on.

In our case given the size of mortgage, it might be more efficient to take the 0.95 reduction now rather than stay paying 4.45% whilst we wait a couple of months before BOI reduce further.

Will be hard for us too to change lender without 1 year payments as noted above so have to stay with BOI