Hi,
We have a 3yr fixed mortgage with PTSB, which finishes in May, its 4.54%.
We plan on changing lenders as PTSB's current rates are not very competitive. AIB and Halifax seem to have the best rates.
AIB will give us a max mortgage length of 28yrs(due to my age of 37yrs) though where as Halifax will give us the equivalent of what we have left on our current mortgage, 31years.
At the moment we could afford reduce our mortgage length to 28yrs.
Whilst our jobs are safe at the moment, who knows what will happen in the future. We do however have mortgage payment protection.
So three questions.
1 - Is it better to take out a 28yr mortgage or will paying in extra on a 31yr mortgage give the same result (but allows us the freedom to pay only the required amount if need be)?
2 - When deciding on lender, we're not familiar with Halifax, is there anything to look at other than the APR as mentioned in the FAQ post?
3 - Fixed or variable? I read that the ECB may drop from 1.25% to 1% soon. Is it best to lock into a fixed rate once this happens or wait till it starts to rerise?
Many thanks!