is it worth switching?

If it was me, I'd split it into two payments, one for rent and a separate one for shared bills and formalise the rental agreement. Be very careful in terms of his contribution towards your shared home as opposed to his rental agreement with you; so in other words money, labour or time that he puts towards furnishing, decorating or maintaining is treating the place as his property - perhaps for the moment don't buy things together as this muddies the water considerably.

One thing to bear in mind is the tax implications of a rental agreement, I am guessing that you can avail of the rent-a-room scheme in this regard.
 
There is one thing no-one has mentioned here. When you switch you are switching to a variable rate which is not guaranteed to stay the same regardless of any movement in the ECB rate. What I'm saying is what happens if BOI decide they are increasing their variable rate in the near future. You may have switched and be at a higher rate. Just a thought.
 
elcato said:
There is one thing no-one has mentioned here. When you switch you are switching to a variable rate which is not guaranteed to stay the same regardless of any movement in the ECB rate. What I'm saying is what happens if BOI decide they are increasing their variable rate in the near future. You may have switched and be at a higher rate. Just a thought.
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The original poster is already on a variable rate - which is a good bit higher and is also not guaranteed to stay the same. The original poster will save about 200 euro a month - so will have saved enough to cover any clawback oafter just 5 months. It's a no brainer really to move to BOI - if they accept her. Hopefully Bondgirl will let us know how things progress.
 
If you switch to BOI/ICS, just be aware that they differentiate their rate offerings for new customers and for existing customers.

For example say you take a fixed rate but in the future you then want to move back to a variable rate, at this stage you will be classified as an existing customer and so will be put on a higher variable than if you were a new customer.

This could cost you quite a bit especially if you have a loan loan to value. On todays rates at less than 50% loan to value you would be offered a variable rate of 2.28% APR (new or existing at AIB) but as an existing customer at BOI your rate would be 2.70% APR. It is these slight differences that you should be aware of.

Some lenders do not differentiate between new and existing customers but you may have to pay legal fees for the switch.

Weigh up the pros and cons of both before switching.
 
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