questions on switching mortgage.

I am coming out of a fixed nmortgage this December (was fixed for 3 years at 3.49% with BOI). I have been looking around for the cheapest variable rate currently on offer. Halifax seem to be offering the lowest at 4.9% (5.01 APR). This is the quote before last weeks rate cut.They are also willing to give you 1150 euro towards legal fees incurred in switching. I am only interested in a variable rate as I expect interest rates to drop over the next year ( I know the banks don't have to pass on the rate cuts but heres hoping!!)
The balance outstanding on my mortgage is 150K.
My questions are as follows.
What are peoples experiences of Halifax?
Historically do they tend to pass on interest rate cuts / do they remain competitve?
Does anyone know of an even cheaper mortgage provider out there.
Finally when using Karl Jeckles mortgage calculator is it the nominal rate or the APR you enter.
Thanks in advance.

At the end of a BOI fixed rate you may get the option to revert to a tracker of ECB + 1.25%. If you can then I would advise taking this. Check your loan offer to confirm.

Nomansland said:

Finally when using Karl Jeckles mortgage calculator is it the nominal rate or the APR you enter.

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Nominal.

Nomansland said:

Historically do they tend to pass on interest rate cuts / do they remain competitve?
.

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The recent rate cuts are the first for a few years - Halifax have only been doing non business banking around in Ireland since about 2005/2006. So not much history to check back on.

NorfBank said:

At the end of a BOI fixed rate you may get the option to revert to a tracker of ECB + 1.25%. If you can then I would advise taking this. Check your loan offer to confirm.

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I have just recieved an offer in the form of a letter. BOI are only refferencing standard variable rate mortgages, they are offering a standard variable rate of 5.25%. No mention of trackers. If they offered me a tracker I'd bite thier hand off. Where did u get the above info from wrt the ECB + 1.25%??

Thanks for all the responses.

Nomansland said:

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Where did u get the above info from wrt the ECB + 1.25%??

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I had a client coming off a 2 year fixed rate yesterday. On his letter he was offered the chance of reverting to a variable, tracker or to refix simply by ticking a box.

Maybe it is just the more recent fixed rates (last 2 years) that revert to the tracker rate while the older ones revert to a variable.

It will say on the loan offer what will happen at the end of the fixed rate i.e what it reverts to.