Best Buy Which lenders have the lowest mortgage rates? (Updated April 2023)

While I wrote the original post on this, Paul F has edited it and made it far easier to read and has kept it updated. Brendan

You (or your broker) should apply to two or three of the cheapest lenders simultaneously. It might take some time for your loan offer to materialise, and today's Best Buy may no longer be the Best Buy when you draw it down.

If you want the cheapest mortgage, look at the interest rate – not at the repayments. A lender can make the repayments lower by extending the term. (The APR or APRC is of little relevance when looking at fixed rates – look at the headline interest rate instead.)

Note: LTV means "loan-to-value ratio". For example, if you are borrowing €300k and the property is worth €400k, your LTV is 300k/400k = 75%
– and so you fall into the "60% to 80% LTV bracket" (sometimes written as "≤80% LTV").

Calculate your LTV and then look at the relevant table. If you are uncertain about which LTV bracket you will end up in, you will need to look at two of the tables. This can happen when you have not gone sale agreed on a house yet, or when you are switching lender/re-fixing with your current lender and you don't have an updated valuation for your house yet.


Selected rates for a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio between 60% and 80%
Note that Avant's rates are slightly lower than the ones shown in this table if your LTV is 70% or less



Dates of the most-recent interest rate increases:

• Bank of Ireland: 31st March 2023, 24th January 2023 and 10th November 2022
  • The rates in the above tables marked "current BOI mtg customers only" are only available if you are looking to fix/re-fix your existing BOI mortgage – they are not available to home movers
• Finance Ireland: 16th March 2023, 3rd October 2022 and 14th June 2022
• EBS: 15th March 2023, 25th November 2022 and 14th October 2022
• AIB: 14th March 2023 (variable rates)
• Permanent TSB: 8th March 2023, 13th January 2023 and 18th November 2022
• Ulster Bank: 24th February 2023 and 24th November 2022
• AIB and Haven: 2nd February 2023 (fixed rates), 25th November 2022 and 14th October 2022
• Avant: 8th December 2022, 15th August 2022 and 16th May 2022

The lenders towards the bottom of the above list may increase their rates soon.

Because rate increases across the various lenders are so frequent at the moment, you (or your broker) should apply to several lenders at the same time. Get approval in principle (AIP) from as many of them as you can, and do as many of the subsequent steps as you can before you have to tell your solicitor which lender to try to get full approval (a letter of offer) from.

Notes on the above tables:

• The rates are available to first-time buyers, movers and switchers
  • Unless otherwise noted, they are also available to existing customers of a given lender – in other words, if you are on a particular rate with your current lender and you qualify for one of their lower rates (or a longer fixed-rate period), you can apply for it. And that process is much simpler and quicker than switching to another lender.
• "green" means that you are only eligible for this rate if the property has a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B3 or better
  • Check it here or consider getting a BER assessment done (see this post) if you are switching your mortgage to another lender (or if you are re-fixing with your current lender)
  • If you are a first-time buyer or moving home and you are hoping to get a green rate, it is important to confirm that the property you are thinking of buying really does have a BER of B3 or better (with an unexpired BER cert to prove it)
  • In the case of Ulster Bank's green rate, the BER must be B2 or better (not just B3 or better)
• "≥€250k" means that you are only eligible for this rate if your mortgage balance is at least €250k
  • AIB may approve you for a mortgage topup if you apply for one, and if the topped-up mortgage balance is €250k or higher, you will be eligible for the lower interest rate (see here, under the "Check our rates" section). This is true regardless of whether you are an existing AIB mortgage customer or you are switching your mortgage to AIB while getting a topup.
  • If you were going to borrow, e.g., €245k, you could consider borrowing €250k in order to get this rate. But you would have to make sure that AIB would lend you €250k and that doing so would not cause you to have an LTV above 90%.
  • There would be no point in taking this approach (borrowing extra) if the property definitely has a BER of B3 or better, since you would already be eligible for AIB's green 5-year fixed rate
• Fixed-rate periods of less than 4 years are not shown. With Avant you can either fix for 10 years or less or you can fix for your entire mortgage term (but not any term in between).

Think carefully before choosing Bank of Ireland, permanent tsb or EBS, as their rates have usually been much higher than the other lenders over the last several years. Some of their rates and/or cashback offers may make them appealing. But before you commit to one of these lenders, ask yourself if you will be willing and able to switch to another lender in a few years' time. If you don't/can't switch, you will be stuck with their high rates when your initial fixed rate ends (in the case of BOI their lowest rates are not available to existing customers), and those higher rates will cost you dearly over the long term.

See this post for a list of reasons why you might not be able to switch in the future. E.g., your income might have reduced significantly because you or your partner has given up work to look after the kids.

If you already have a mortgage, consider posting your mortgage details in the switcher thread (in the format shown in the first post) – even if you are in the middle of a fixed rate. You will get an estimate of the savings you would make from switching to other lenders (or from re-fixing with your current lender). Even if your mortgage is with Ulster Bank, you can still re-fix with them. Re-fixing with your current lender is much simpler and quicker than switching to another lender.

If you are self-employed or if you have a bad credit record, then you may find that Bank of Ireland will give you a mortgage where other lenders won't. Check out this thread. Finance Ireland is another option, as they have a "Progress Plus" mortgage, which has higher rates for higher-risk customers.

If you are a first-time buyer, check out this more comprehensive thread.

If you have a tracker mortgage and you are trying to decide whether or not to fix your mortgage, see this thread.

Note: LTV means "loan-to-value ratio". For example, if you are borrowing €300k and the property is worth €400k, your LTV is 300k/400k = 75% – and so you fall into the "60% to 80% LTV bracket" (sometimes written as "≤80% LTV").

If you are moving home, you must have an LTV of 90% or lower, i.e, a deposit of at least 10% of the purchase price of your new home (unless you manage to get an "LTV exemption").

If you are moving home, you cannot borrow more than 3.5 times your combined gross annual income (unless you manage to get a "loan-to-income exemption"). For example, if you earn €30k per year and your partner earns €40k per year (before tax, in both cases), your combined gross annual income is €70k and the maximum amount you can borrow is €245k.


AIB
AIB's rates have been competitive for several years. They lack the 10% overpayment facility and the waiving of break fees if you trade up (which Avant offer). But there is a quirk in how they calculate their break fee, which means that on some of their fixed rates you can make unlimited overpayments, or break out of the fixed rate if moving home, without penalty. See this thread to learn which rates the quirk applies to.

AIB's best fixed rates are their "green" mortgage and their "High Value" mortgage.

AIB pays switchers €2,000.


Avant standard mortgage (fixed for 3 to 10 years)

• Overpay 10% of the balance each year without penalty
• Maximum early redemption fee ("break fee") is 2% of your remaining balance
• Early redemption fee may be waived if trading up and taking out a new mortgage with Avant. You would take out the new Avant mortgage at the then current rates (not the rates when you first fixed with Avant).
• If you are switching an existing mortgage to Avant or moving home, Avant will only give you a mortgage if your LTV is 80% or lower

Although Avant currently quote follow-on variable rates, we will only know their real variable rates when the first Avant customers roll off their fixed-rate mortgages in late 2023.


Avant One Mortgage (fixed for 11 to 30 years)
The Avant One Mortgage is unusual in that you fix the rate for the full term of the mortgage. With a standard mortgage, if you take out, say, a 23-year mortgage, you might choose to fix for the first ten years. With the Avant One Mortgage, if you take out a 23-year mortgage, the mortgage rate is fixed for the full 23 years. You can’t take out a 23-year mortgage and fix for 15 or 20 years.

• Overpay 10% of the balance each year without penalty
• Maximum early redemption fee ("break fee") is 2% of your remaining balance for the first 10 years and 1.5% after the first ten years
• Early redemption fee may be waived if trading up and taking out a new mortgage with Avant. You would take out the new Avant mortgage at the then current rates (not the rates when you first fixed with Avant).
• If you are switching an existing mortgage to Avant or moving home, Avant will only give you a mortgage if your LTV is 80% or lower

Haven
Haven's rates are very similar to AIB's (their parent company), but Haven offer €5,000 cashback if your mortgage is €250k or more. However, I don't trust cashback lenders, so if you choose Haven you should choose a fairly long fixed-rate period, e.g., 7 years.

There is no distinction between different loan-to-value brackets for Haven's fixed rates – a ≤90% LTV borrower is charged the same as a ≤50% LTV borrower.

Warning: it is currently (September 2022) taking a long time to complete a switch to Haven, in the experience of some users of this site. It is not known if this slowness also affects first-time buyers and people moving home.

Cashback:

• If you borrow €250k or more on any Haven fixed rate, Haven will give you €5,000 cashback (excludes the green mortgage). This offer is available to switchers, movers and first-time buyers.
• If you switch your existing mortgage to Haven and borrow less than €250k, Haven will give you €2,000 cashback
• If you switch your existing mortgage to Haven and take the Haven green 4-year fixed-rate mortgage, you will get €2,000 cashback (regardless of how much you borrow)

Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland's rates have historically been higher than the "non-cashback lenders". If this practice continues, you will be significantly worse off with BOI over the long term compared to choosing a non-cashback lender (even after accounting for BOI's cashback).

Some of BOI's rates are currently competitive but they might not be by the time you draw down your mortgage. That is why you are strongly recommended to apply to several lenders at the same time.

Bank of Ireland discriminate on interest rates between new and existing customers, i.e., their best rates are not available to their existing customers. None of their high-value ("≥€250k") or green rates are available to their existing customers, and so these "discounts" won't be available to you when your initial fixed-rate period ends.

Cashback (available to new customers only, but not available on any of the rates marked "≥€250k" or "≥€250k and green" in the above tables):

• 2% of the mortgage balance at drawdown
• 1% of the mortgage balance after 5 years (provided you still have your mortgage with Bank of Ireland)

Permanent TSB
Permanent TSB's rates have historically been significantly higher than the "non-cashback lenders". If this practice continues, you will be significantly worse off with PTSB over the long term compared to choosing a non-cashback lender (even after accounting for PTSB's cashback).

Some of PTSB's rates are currently competitive but they might not be by the time you draw down your mortgage. That is why you are strongly recommended to apply to several lenders at the same time.

• "≥€250k" is the "High Value" mortgage and means that you are only eligible for this rate if your mortgage balance is at least €250k
  • Even if your mortgage is more than €250k at the moment, it won't be forever – and so there will come a point in the future when that generous discount on the interest rate won't be available to you if you go to re-fix with PTSB
• The 4-year fixed rate is only available to new customers and does not offer cashback

Permanent TSB previously discriminated on interest rates between new and existing customers, i.e., their best rates were not available to their existing customers. They largely ended this practice in November 2022 but there is no guarantee that they won't reintroduce it in the future.

Cashback (available to new customers only, but not available on the 4-year fixed rate):

• 2% of the mortgage balance at drawdown
• 2% of the monthly mortgage repayments back in cash every month until the end of 2027 (provided you open an Explore account, which has a €6 monthly fee)

Permanent TSB have a useful feature in relation to mortgage overpayments:

• Overpay by as much as you like each month without penalty, and this builds up as a credit on your account
• You can use this credit to take a payment holiday or to reduce the monthly repayments (or to pay off part of the principal at the end of the fixed period)
• You are only charged mortgage interest on the net balance, i.e., on the mortgage balance after the credit has been subtracted
• See this thread for more details

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for all of this. Historically, do AIB discriminate between existing and new customers? Who are more likely to treat their existing customers better, I can't decide between Avant/Haven/AIB - I'd much prefer not to have to switch again in 4/5 year's time.

BusyAtMaths said:

Historically, do AIB discriminate between existing and new customers?

Click to expand...

To the best of my knowledge and memory, AIB has always allowed existing customers avail of the rates on offer to new customers.

They did have a practice up to a few years ago where the rate on offer was based on the original LTV.
Say you drew down a mortgage based on 90% LTV.
You had since reduced the LTV to 70%.
They still offered you the 90% LTV.
We campaigned against that, and they changed their policy.

Brendan

But to mitigate against a Bank putting you on a high rate at end of their lower fixed term rate surely you could just switch again? And you could tee it all up so that switch happens at end of fixed term?

ArthurMcB said:

But to mitigate against a Bank putting you on a high rate at end of their lower fixed term rate surely you could just switch again? And you could tee it all up so that switch happens at end of fixed term?

Click to expand...

The best laid plans and all of that.

There are many reasons why you may not be able to switch in X years' time – basically, any major deterioration in your financial position or some of the reasons in this post.

Worth checking with a Credit Union that you share the 'common bond' with or a family member does.

One variable rate at St Raphaels is 2.95% - lowest I have seen (NB Haven rates changed on May 18th 2023 and not reflected in chart)

Many Credit Unions do mortgages and many have competitive rates.

One has fixed rate for life or mortgage without exit penalty.

DublinD said:

Can you provide info/link on the CU with fixed rate for entire mortgage?!

Click to expand...

See this thread: