Moving home while on tracker

damien79

Registered User
Messages
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I currently have a three bed house in approx 75k negative equity but am looking to move to a 4 bed detached. The difference in what we could get for our house and the cost of the new house would be maybe 40K which would mostly be made up of savings. We would hope that we would not have to borrow any more funds from our bank (Ulsterbank).
We are currently on a tracker mortgage with UB but will lose this even if just changing property without additional funds. We will have to move from a 1.15% above ECB to 2.5 above ECB(for 5 years) and then to variable/fixed.
If we move, it will probably be our last move so would hopefully be in a position to pay some extra into the mortgage for the first five years at the lower rate.
Does anybody have any experience of a similar move or any advice as to how to proceed.
 
It's impossible to do the calculations without the full figures.

Amount of loan outstanding.
Term remaining.

You will be paying an extra 1.35% on your tracker element for 5 years. If you have a loan of €200,000, that would be €2,700 a year or just over €200 a month.

After that you will be paying around an extra 3.5% a year. After 5 years, you will have paid off some of the capital, so it will be around 3.5% on 180,000 or €500 a month.

Only you can decide if the move is worth it.

It seems like a huge amount of extra money to pay for an extra €40k worth of house. Personally, I would stick with the tracker for a few more years. Every month, you are paying down the capital and are improving your net wealth.

The risk in this is that UB might withdraw the tracker product which would make moving very expensive.
 
The outstanding amount is 203K so the figures would be pretty accurate. We have 23 years left on our mortgage.
Currently we pay €863 before TRS per month and UB have calculated that a rate of 2.75% (2.5 + ECB) will amount to €995 per month.
We would hope that we could put some savings into the mortgage before the 2.5 rate runs out in 5 years meaning the capital is further reduced.
We have a young family and would like to have more space both inside and out and the houses around us are good value. They will cost a lot of money in the long term but I think if we wait for 5 years to move, it will cost as much if not more.
 
I think for the sake of paying an extra €132 a month you should move. This is a great offer to be able to keep the tracker at a slightly higher rate for 5 years. And you're able to pay off more of the capital, so with 18 years remaining, even if the rate goes up you will be well able to handle it, will have a lesser capital amount, and if things really went awry, you could extend the term.

I think people are crazy to keep a house just because the tracker is great when they need a more suitable house and can afford the rate increase. Life is for living not for putting up with a small house to keep the tracker.
 
I would say don't move yet. PTSB and now AIB are offering tracker porting with +1%. This is much more attractive than UB's 5 year tracker product. Ulster bank may follow suit- they had full term tracker porting +0% until recently. Also, they may sell their mortgage business to another lender, as they are reportedly struggling.
 
Aib Moveable Tracker

Hi,

Does anyone know when AIB will launch their moveable tracker product. Can seem to get definitive date.

I have just gone sale agreed on house after 4 yrs on market and found new house to move to. The vendor of new house is looking for a relatively quick sale. I dont know whether to hold out for AIb or just go with KBC as cheapest variable rate. Would have til June to sort everything out. Is there any point in negotiating with AIB to keep business until tracker pdt launched.

Thanks in advance
 
Reports in the news yesterday and today that Ulster Bank may be up for sale. Will be interesting to see if/how the tracker porting product changes when the take-over comes.
 
Options for keeping trackers

Spoke to several banks last week on this. Banks will not allow you to keep tracker unless the original tracker mortgage is already with them.
For example in this case, neither AIB nor PTSB will offer a tracker extension/swap onto their books.
So the only way to keep your tracker (even at +1% or +2.5%) is to stay with the same bank.

(Sadly of course it makes sense. No bank wants to take on board a loss making tracker that they don't already have on their books!)

Tracker Portability Key Features and Requirements

Note: Tracker Portability is only available to existing permanent tsb customers with permanent tsb home loan tracker interest rates who are moving home.
 
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