ICS switcher

[tom1ie]

Hi all I’m in the process of switching (again!) from Avant @1.7% to ICS @4.25%.

The reason for this we took out a CU loan to build an extension as Avant wouldn’t go with a top up which is fair enough.

We now want to amalgamate the CU loan with the mortgage and the only lender who allowed this was ICS.

It still works out as a cheaper monthly payment to pay ICS the new amount vs avant+ CU repayment.

The long term plan is to switch again to a lower fixed rate in 3 years once the ICS fixed rate term is up and to move to a lower rate with whoever is the lowest at the time.

My question is- ICS haven’t passed on the two most recent ECB rate drops, how likley are they to pass these on or any future rate drops before June.

The reason I say June is because we have our loan offer from ICS just waiting to be signed in the solicitors but our broker has advised to hold off in case ICS pass on either of the ECB cuts, so then we can look for an amended offer from ICS reflecting the new lower rate.
Any thoughts welcome.

 

[Persia]

Ring them and ask, iirc ICS could be quite sticky about passing on cuts.

I used to ring up every 5 or 6 months and ask for a cut myself ( don't ask -don't get)

It would go to a weekly or bi weekly committee meeting but 95% of the time they'd give me a small cut.
I had an impeccable payment record though.
Paid off the ppr mortgage three years ago so don't know if this practice still goes on.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Stop, stop, stop!

You are confusing repayments with the cost of the loan which is the interest.

Your repayments are only lower because you are paying off a short term loan over a longer period!

Based on the information you provided in 2023.

Mortgage on home
215K
Mortgage provider:
Avant
Type of mortgage: Tracker, interest only, fixed rate
7 year fixed- 4 years and 10 months approx left of the fixed
Interest rate
1.95%

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
credit union loan for 120K, the repayment of which is €1360.66 PM. This loan is at a rate of 6.5%

Current interest

ICS interest: €325k @ .0425 = €13,800

You would have the costs of moving. And the costs of switching to another lender in 3 years.

You are with the cheapest lender in the market and you are planning to switch to one of the dearest.

While this is based on the information you provided in 2023, it is likely that the difference is even bigger now as you have probably paid proportionately more of the CU loan.

As the figures have changed, do the above calculation using the correct figures.

Brendan

 

[tom1ie]

Hi Brendan
Thanks for that info.
I forgot to add in an important bit of information- we are also taking on an extra 80k to get further work on the house done.
Avant wouldn’t allow us to do this and we already had a CU loan from the extension.

As far as I can see we couldn’t get the 80k any other way as the repayments on a personal loan plus the CU loan plus the mortgage would have too much money due every month.

I realise we are paying off more over the long term but the combined repayments of the other two loans plus the mortgage would leave me a bit uncomfortable.
The plan is to switch from ICS as soon as we can without a breakage fee anyway.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I forgot to add in an important bit of information- we are also taking on an extra 80k to get further work on the house done.

Then the question is whether you should get this work done now or wait until you are in a better financial position to do it. It sounds as if you are putting yourself into some financial risk for what must be a relatively small project.

 

[Persia]

Another lender to let borrowers pay off their mortgages until they are 80

Another lender to let borrowers pay off their mortgages until they are 80

A second lender is to issue mortgages that people can pay off until the age of 80.

www.independent.ie

You may or may not be aware of this impending cut.

ICS Mortgages, which has had some of the highest lending rates in the market, is also cutting its interest rates by up to 0.5 percentage points.