BoI cut my SVR when I told them I was moving to KBC

Daihi40

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Hi - just an FYI. Our PPR mortgage is with BOI @ 4.5%. I contacted them to say I had been in contact with KBC and had approval in principle to move to 3.9% plus offer of legal fees and home insurance plus another 0.2% if I moved my current a/c. They got back to me within a week to offer me 3.9% on SVR - we accepted and are now on that rate. Thought people should know. I also asked them to confirm that any further reductions to the SVR would be applied to our rate, which they confirmed.
 
Daihi

Well done!

That is great news and is contrary to what the banks are saying in public.

They say that if someone switches, they don't make any effort to keep them. As BoI is the most expensive, they probably have to fight harder.

Brendan
 
gnf reported in this thread that he was refused by BoI
Brendan

Clearly I am doing something wrong with BOI ! I have never been known to have poor negotiation skills, but seemingly others appear to be doing better than me at the moment !

Maybe the issue relates to timing - I contacted BOI just before Christmas after the AIB move, and clearly they had no policy formed at this stage. I also contacted them the day after their new rates were issued, and they may not have seen sufficient backlash against the press release at that stage.

I did not bother contact them after the Approval in Principle given position they had taken previously ! Maybe I should have done, but at that stage the 'hard work' had been done !
 
I have a variable rate of 4.25% with BoI and told them I was moving to KBC and they immediately reduced my rate to 4%.Thanks for all your help and Brendan I owe you a pint.
 
After a couple of refusals and fixed rate offers from BOI, we got our SVR down from 4.5% to 3.9%. We had to move our current account to BOI, we had AIP from KBC, & a quote from our solicitor who still holds the deeds. Mortgage taken out Oct-13 but LTV has changed hugely due to works and market changes. Happy to stay with them for now, but if rates move significantly we will move banks. Thanks for all the encouragement!
 
I think every variable rate mortgage holder in this position should ring Bank if Ireland and and complain bitterly. I told them I was very unhappy with the fact that their rates were so out of line with the ECB rate. I had to pay for my own valuation, prove that my LTV was <75%, and fix my rate for two years. It was worth it though as I got a reduction to 3.8% from 4.3%.
 
Same boat than last poster. I had to pay valuation and fixed rats for two years but wen from 4.5% to 3.8%.
My fear is that the contract signed for the two years says that after the two years it is their own discretion to select the variable rate hwihc they will apply to the loan.......I didn't like that but oh well... We will worry about that in two years time.
 
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Well if the publicity over the last week or so results in the variable rates being cut further, you will regret having fixed at 3.8%.
 
Well if the publicity over the last week or so results in the variable rates being cut further, you will regret having fixed at 3.8%.
For many people, like me, to regret fixing it to 2 years at 3.8%, would really take for SVR to go down around the 2.5%. I honestly do not see variable rates in Ireland going to that level this year or even next purely because there is no competition.
 
Hi Gaelgo

Can you show us the calculations which result in that outcome?

Brendan

I should have edited my previous post. Yes I would regret fixing if varable rates went to be cut under 3%. But two questions here:
1- do I believe variable rates will cut? Absotuely yes.
2- do I believe they will be cut enough (low 2%)? I am afraid, no. At least not in the short term.
I would obviously love to be wrong.
 
2)If you are switching to another lender to get a better variable rate, should you do so now or wait for a few weeks? I think I would switch out of Bank of Ireland. They are very unlikely to be competitive. They are very unlikely to pass cuts onto existing customers. So probably start that process now.

I have AiP from PTSB but the difference from my current rate to their VR is pretty small - even with them paying 1K of the legal fees it would still take me over 6 months to cover the other ~€500 costs. UB are offering 1.5K to switch, which would be effectively a free switch but their variable rates another 0.1% higher. So I reckon hang on a couple of months to see which if any of the banks react to the current political pressure.
 
Hi sh

Ulster Bank is the only lender which allows borrowers avail of lower LTV products. So if your LTV is currently 80%, but after 5 years, you reduce it to 60%, you can get the 60% LTV rate.

Brendan
 
BOI also reduced our variable rate from 4.3% to 3.9% after threatening to move to KBC - We drew down our mortgage last year at less than 60% LTV. However we informed them that unless they match KBCs rate of 3.55% (<60% and moving our current account also), we would move our mortgage as the valuation and legal fees were covered by KBC and our broker is covering our home insurance renewal, so really is not costing us a cent to move. BOI premier banking confirmed that they were seeing up to three cases per day and were dealing with them on a case by case basis. We have the loan offer from KBC and as BOI won't match the 3.55% rate, will be proceeding and should be moved by end of this month.
 
Just to say rang boi and they offered us 3.8 per cent fixed for 2 years. We are currently 4.3% svr.
Going to get the ball rolling with kbc. How long does approval usually take?
 
Just to say rang boi and they offered us 3.8 per cent fixed for 2 years. We are currently 4.3% svr.
Going to get the ball rolling with kbc. How long does approval usually take?
BOI offered us a two year fixed of 3.8% also, but we told them we did not want to fix under any circumstances, so they then reduced us from 4.3% to 3.9% variable. We went through a broker, it has taken us 4-6 wks so far as I believe KBC understandably have a backlog, but we now have the loan offer letter and expect to be moved to KBC by the end of this month.
 
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