Pension/AVC - backed mortgage

P

Peter W

Guest


I am 30 years old, a first time buyer and looking to borrow 500-600k for a residential property (as my primary residence) with 8-10% of my own equity. The nature of my work is that I receive an annual bonus which is anywhere between 75 - 125% of my annual salary. Unfortunately, I'm taxed at 42% on the majority of my basic salary and my bonus.



I've spoken to a number of banks and they have indicated that they would be willing to grant me a quasi-pension mortgage: I would pay interest only over the life of the mortgage (though this may be reviewed after 3-5 years) and, at the same time, would set up an independent Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme (at the moment I can invest 15% of my gross annual income into this). Contributions to this scheme would be made out of my annual bonus such that the capital repayment on the mortgage would be covered upon maturity of the pension. This would allow me maximum tax relief on both mortgage interest and my annual bonus.



What I intend to do is reinvest the capital repayments I would have otherwise been making on an annuity

mortgage into a diversified portfolio of assets.



My questions to you are:



1. What do you think of this idea? Do you think it's advisable?

2. Is there a more tax efficient method of buying a house than this?

3. How will it affect my credit rating/future borrowing capability.

4. Should I opt for fixed, variable or tracker?

5. Who, in your opinion, would be the best provider in this case?

6. By reinvesting the capital repayments am I naturally hedging myself against negative equity? (assuming I use the returns to pay down the capital on the mortgage).

7. Aside from negative equity, an exponential rise in interest rates, a tarnished credit rating or the fund not growing enough to cover the final capital repayment, what are the risks I've overlooked?



Thanks
 
Peter W said:
My questions to you are:



1. What do you think of this idea? Do you think it's advisable?

Its a pretty good idea - but specalist tax advice may be needed in relation to the view revenue might take on this scheme
Peter W said:
2. Is there a more tax efficient method of buying a house than this?
Probably not!

Peter W said:
3. How will it affect my credit rating/future borrowing capability.
It will not affect your credit rating at all - as long as you pay the interest payments. From the point of view of future borrowing capability it is hard to say. It depends on what you may do in the future.

Peter W said:
4. Should I opt for fixed, variable or tracker?
Personal choice in relation to fixed or variable - do you want the "comfort" of knowing what your monthly payments are via a fixed rate. If you do, by all means go for a fixed rate, but be aware you are paying a premium for this comfort. I believe for variable type facilities, a tracker is a better option, as it is more transparent, and you will always know exactly what rate you are paying for your mortgage.


Peter W said:
5. Who, in your opinion, would be the best provider in this case?
As the mortgage is for your own home, and you will require interest only, I believe Bank of Scotland are probably your best bet (they give interest only mortgages on your PDH)


Peter W said:
6. By reinvesting the capital repayments am I naturally hedging myself against negative equity? (assuming I use the returns to pay down the capital on the mortgage).
Possibly - depending on how you invest the capital payments.


Peter W said:
7. Aside from negative equity, an exponential rise in interest rates, a tarnished credit rating or the fund not growing enough to cover the final capital repayment, what are the risks I've overlooked?
Thats about it!!!




Thanks[/QUOTE]
 
Thanks a lot for your advice - much appreciated.

Looks like IIB and Bank of Scotland are the most flexible and likely to go with this idea. Meeting a lot of resistance to it from other banks......

Cheers
 
Peter W said:
The nature of my work is that I receive an annual bonus which is anywhere between 75 - 125% of my annual salary.

Am I the only one who's morbidly curious as to what Peter does for a living..? *lol* :-D
 
Sarah W said:
IIB will only do a pure interest only mortgage for the first three years; BoS will do it for the full term of the mortgage but their maximum loan to value is 85%. Lenders will not accept this as a pension backed mortgage as such because they can't take the AVC as additional security.

Sarah

www.rea.ie

Thanks Sarah,

Do you think it would be possible to get any lender to extend more than 85% loan to value for an extended period. I've heard rumours of 100% mortgages interest only - but don't know if there's any truth in it?

Also, given that the AVC and the mortgage would be mutually exlusive, do you think I would be better off just investing the money I would have otherwise put in the AVC (even though the AVC would save me a fortune in tax) as I wouldn't be able to access that money for at leat 30 years?

Cheers
Peter
 
Sarah W said:
IIB will only do a pure interest only mortgage for the first three years; BoS will do it for the full term of the mortgage but their maximum loan to value is 85%. Lenders will not accept this as a pension backed mortgage as such because they can't take the AVC as additional security.

Sarah

www.rea.ie


www.rea.ie[/QUOTE]

Thanks Sarah,

Do you think it would be possible to get any lender to extend more than 85% loan to value for an extended period. I've heard rumours of 100% mortgages interest only - but don't know if there's any truth in it?

Also, given that the AVC and the mortgage would be mutually exlusive, do you think I would be better off just investing the money I would have otherwise put in the AVC (even though the AVC would save me a fortune in tax) as I wouldn't be able to access that money for at leat 30 years?

Cheers
Peter
 
IIB will only do a pure interest only mortgage for the first three years; BoS will do it for the full term of the mortgage but their maximum loan to value is 85%. Lenders will not accept this as a pension backed mortgage as such because they can't take the AVC as additional security.

Sarah

www.rea.ie
 
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