Switching from fixed mortgage

Hi,
I am on a 35 year mortgage with BOI. I am in my 2nd year of a 5 year fixed term. Is it possible to switch to a interest only mortgage without incurring a penalty. Is it a good idea to switch to an interest only or should I go to a variable. The reason I want to do this is because money is tight at the moment and I want to get my repayments down if possible.

You would need to contact the bank regarding a breakage fee, as you have 3 years to run on the fixed rate it could be very high. If there is a fee, you would incur it by changing to variable or going interest only.
Interest only is normally only short term and interest rates are at historical lows, so you might need to plan for the long term as interest rates will rise and there is a possibility that standard variable could be up at 7-8% in a few years time.
Of course if your current difficulty is only short term then IO could be a good choice. Explain everything to you bank and see what options they give you.

Thanks Senna
I am on 4.79% fixed at the moment. If I could get it down for 1 year it would make things so much easier. Doing a college course while working and my hours at work have been cut so not so much money coming in each week. Work away so I will have to wait a week til I can get to the bank.I would like to have a face to face meeting with bank manager as I know them. Hopefully they can do something for me.