What is the minimum gain to switch mortgage

[Boyd]

Is there any minimum time before you can switch? I'm considering FTB mortgage at EBS for 77% LTV @3.7% so I can get 2% cash back offer. Can I switch to UB the very next day for same LTV and 3.1%, with E1500 legal fee bonus, and no EBS claw back? If allowed, does this sound like good idea? UB said I could but legal fees could be up to E5k?!!

 

[qwerty5]

To all on here who have switched recently, is there anything you think would make the switching process easier

for example:
- ability to get a single professional valuation that could be used by any bank, and would be valid for 12-18 months [I am thinking similar to a valuation of an engagement ring for insurance purposes]
- ability to maintain the same life assurance/mortgage protection insurance cover? I am not sure about this but I was told by Zurich at the time that I could not keep the same cover when I switched for some reason
- agreed SLA's between banks for the supply of certain details (not sure if that really makes any difference in reality)

Anything else that you can think of that would help make the switching process easier?

Is there any scope for the banks to handle the switching between themselves, and their solicitors to handle the update on the charge on the property rather than require a solicitor on the customer side? Not sure I would advise this personally given the nature of a mortgage contract (being the biggest financial commitment most people will make), but wondering others options on this

List of requirements that solicitors will require. I was asked to produce BER cert. I don't know why. When I argued with the solicitor they wouldn't budge. I got a document costing €130 that I didn't need and the bank didn't care about. I could have changed solicitors, which would have delayed me and I'd have had to pay them for whatever they'd done. I asked here and Brendan I think, suggested I report them. I could have done that. But I didn't want to delay my application by months (I was overpaying over €100 a month to my old bank). So I got the cert. No use to anybody but it ticked a box and cost me money.

Well late in the application (when the solicitor had all documentation from the bank and I thought all we had to do was sign) the solicitor asked for a NPPR cert. I didn't know I needed it but it delayed us another couple of weeks as we messed around for that. If I'd known at the start of the application I'd have applied for it then rather than have it as an extra delay tactic.

So a checklist of all documentation that will be required should be easy to create. This stuff isn't rocket science. I know it all now as I've been through the process. My solicitor seemed to give me requirements as she thought of them.

I got two valuations for two banks. Neither valuer gave me any documentation as to my valuation. They gave that to the bank. The second valuer was paid by the bank so I don't mind too much them giving that info to the bank.

Maybe a list of definitive requirements and processes for switching. This is not something most people are familiar with. I had to ask the bank frequently where we were in the process and had to chase both the solicitor and the bank at various stages to move along once I figured out the were delaying (e.g. waiting 3 weeks for a letter to get from the bank to the solicitor). I got fed up and asked them to email me the stuff. when I gave that to the solicitor waiting another week or two for them to say it was the wrong stuff. I dealt with two banks as I initially started with another bank and both seemed to have the switching process managed by somebody who never switched a mortgage before.

 

[gnf_ireland]

@qwerty5 thanks for that detail. I dont know how much of that is down to the solicitor versus the switching process but agree a list of documents would be good. They appear to be asking you for the documents needed to sell the house, not switch a mortgage.

As an FYI - when I switched, the valuer sent the details to the bank, but I called into them and they also gave me a copy without an issue at all. Might be worth doing, just to have a copy at least. The worst they can say is no

Reading the bank progress, I had the same challenges at the time. I think it was just around mid-term and people were on holidays or else backlogs they struggled to clear. I assume this is part of the underwriting process for the loan that is slow, rather than related to switching per se and imagine new applicants would have the same issues.

Its really hard to know which are difficulties related to switching versus mortgages in general

 

[shweeney]

banks have their own panel of valuers - we initially planned to switch to UB, so they sent a valuer out (and ultimately we weren't charged for that valuation). AIB have a list of valuers on their website, so we had to arrange our own valuation for them and pay for it. Both valuers sent us a copy of their report.

re: Life Assurance - we're using the same policy we had for BOI with AIB so it is possible. One of the things that prevented us switching to UB was their insistence that we re-assign the life policy to them before drawdown, which was impossible as BOI wouldn't release their assignment until the mortgage had been cleared. AIB didn't seem too bothered, in fact we still haven't reassigned the policy to them, they just wanted evidence that the policy exists (though they did tell us this is dependent on the value of the mortgage - if it had been a bigger figure they might have insisted on a new policy).

one other thing that delayed us was we didn't have a certificate of exemption for the extension on our house; we had built this when we moved in, it didn't need planning but you have to get a cert from the architect to confirm this. I just went back to the architect and he supplied the cert in a few days.

The main thing that would speed up switching would be some method of banks sharing account information (with the account holders authorisation of course), so you don't have to gather 6 months of statements from multiple accounts - AIB accepted these via email, and using screenshots from online-banking, but UB insisted on paper copies which is a nuisance as we've both signed up to paperless banking. They can share info for current-account switching, I don't see why something similar can't be done for mortgage switching.

 

[Deathknell]

banks have their own panel of valuers - we initially planned to switch to UB, so they sent a valuer out (and ultimately we weren't charged for that valuation). AIB have a list of valuers on their website, so we had to arrange our own valuation for them and pay for it. Both valuers sent us a copy of their report.

re: Life Assurance - we're using the same policy we had for BOI with AIB so it is possible. One of the things that prevented us switching to UB was their insistence that we re-assign the life policy to them before drawdown, which was impossible as BOI wouldn't release their assignment until the mortgage had been cleared. AIB didn't seem too bothered, in fact we still haven't reassigned the policy to them, they just wanted evidence that the policy exists (though they did tell us this is dependent on the value of the mortgage - if it had been a bigger figure they might have insisted on a new policy).

The main thing that would speed up switching would be some method of banks sharing account information (with the account holders authorisation of course), so you don't have to gather 6 months of statements from multiple accounts - AIB accepted these via email, and using screenshots from online-banking, but UB insisted on paper copies which is a nuisance as we've both signed up to paperless banking. They can share info for current-account switching, I don't see why something similar can't be done for mortgage switching.

Agree with all this - Just switched to AIB, got my own valuation, they were on their recommended panel but had to stump for it myself.
Life Assuarance or MPP: I found the very same, AIB were not that bothered with re-assignment, proof of life was all that was needed.
Sharing info could be a blessing and a curse, of course it would speed things up, if you had repayment issues at some stage, or had to take a holiday, then they would also see that, causing them to probably ask for even more info.