Two years ago, with a lot of debt, 1 judgement, and a bad mortgage history, we decided the only way to clear our debt was to move house. We had tried to remortgage but kept getting refused. Over the period of 1 year we sold our house, cleared our debts, rented for a few months and bought a new house with the help of a new €200,000 23 year mortgage from start, we accepted the fact that we would have to pay a higher than normal interest rate hoping that in time we could move back to a 'mainstreet' bank. 1 year later our mortgage repayment has climbed by another 2% (almost 300 euro) and I am starting to get scared. We are contemplating moving to a fixed rate but are unsure as to how long to do this for, obviously we want to be able to move to a more competitive rate as soon as possible so really I am wondering if anyone could advise us as to how long will it be before the main banks see us a viable option?