I want to share a story about what happened to me when I was buying my house in 2002.
I needed a mortgage of 140,000 euro to buy a house worth 235,000. My partner's previous mortgage was with Friends First and she thought they were a reasonable crowd to deal with so we decided to go with them again. Also my parents who had invested in property had a couple of mortgages there.
We met the mortgage advisor and everything was fine and we were preapproved without any issues. We decided to fix the mortgage for 3 years at a rate of 4.49% (which we were happy with) as we were getting married later that year and wanted to know what our outgoings would be.
Two weeks before we were due to sign for the house I received a phonecall from the mortgage advisor who informed me that regretfully, the 3 year fixed rate was increasing to 5.25%. I was horrified and asked for an explanation as to why the rate at their bank was increasing when all the other banks were reducing their rates. She said that she did not know and was only passing on the news. I told her that that was not good enough and could I speak to her manager. She told me that he would ring me back.
A couple of days later I received a phonecall from a manager at Friends First and he gave me some convoluted story about European Central Bank rates and head office advising of rate hikes etc etc etc. I basically told him that I would take my business elsewhere.
We ended up going to BOI and getting sorted there at the same rate. Just in time too as we signed for our house only about 10 days later.
About three weeks later, I received a phone call from the mortgage advisor in Friends First and she told me she had great news and that they could offer me the original mortgage but the 3 year fixed rate had now come down to 4%. Needless to say, following the stress that I had endured over the previous month, I told her exactly what I thought of her bank and how I felt that I had been very badly treated.
Afterwards, I started to wonder how many times has this stunt been pulled by Friends First on people in similar situations to my own. Even after almost 4 years I have never forgotton this blatant attempt, in my opinion, to rip me off in a most unethical and uncaring fashion and I warn any young first time buyers to beware when dealing with this bank.
I needed a mortgage of 140,000 euro to buy a house worth 235,000. My partner's previous mortgage was with Friends First and she thought they were a reasonable crowd to deal with so we decided to go with them again. Also my parents who had invested in property had a couple of mortgages there.
We met the mortgage advisor and everything was fine and we were preapproved without any issues. We decided to fix the mortgage for 3 years at a rate of 4.49% (which we were happy with) as we were getting married later that year and wanted to know what our outgoings would be.
Two weeks before we were due to sign for the house I received a phonecall from the mortgage advisor who informed me that regretfully, the 3 year fixed rate was increasing to 5.25%. I was horrified and asked for an explanation as to why the rate at their bank was increasing when all the other banks were reducing their rates. She said that she did not know and was only passing on the news. I told her that that was not good enough and could I speak to her manager. She told me that he would ring me back.
A couple of days later I received a phonecall from a manager at Friends First and he gave me some convoluted story about European Central Bank rates and head office advising of rate hikes etc etc etc. I basically told him that I would take my business elsewhere.
We ended up going to BOI and getting sorted there at the same rate. Just in time too as we signed for our house only about 10 days later.
About three weeks later, I received a phone call from the mortgage advisor in Friends First and she told me she had great news and that they could offer me the original mortgage but the 3 year fixed rate had now come down to 4%. Needless to say, following the stress that I had endured over the previous month, I told her exactly what I thought of her bank and how I felt that I had been very badly treated.
Afterwards, I started to wonder how many times has this stunt been pulled by Friends First on people in similar situations to my own. Even after almost 4 years I have never forgotton this blatant attempt, in my opinion, to rip me off in a most unethical and uncaring fashion and I warn any young first time buyers to beware when dealing with this bank.