I switched from BoI to KBC

Carmel

Registered User
Messages
252
We bought a house in South Dublin last year with a BoI mortgage at 4.5 percent. It has increased in value since then and we think the loan to value ratio is around 60percent now.
We are considering switching to KBC, it looks like we could get a variable rate of 3.75percent with them or 3.55percent if we changed our current account to KBC. This would mean a sabing of around 100e a month on our mortgage repayments.

We informed BoI that that we were considering switching and they have come back with an offer of 4.2 variable or 3.95 for a 5 year fixed.

Any thoughts on the pros and cons of switching? I don't know what KBC are like to deal with? Do they have good internet banking?
 
Hi Carmel,

I have just switched from AIB to KBC for my current account as we took a mortgage with them and wanted the reduced mortgage offer.

I have found KBC to be excellent so far, customer service is excellent as they are very responsive and helpful. Their online offering is not as comprehensive as the AIB one but it is sufficient for my needs. I like the ability to use my phone to make payments rather than having to use the AIB calculator-like card reader. The quarterly fees and transaction charges are much lower when compared to what I was paying to AIB.

KBC also provided us with free house insurance for 1 year with our mortage.

I have also switched my credit card because they offer 1% back on groceries and online purchases up to €10 a month. I clear the card each month so I'm not sure if their credit charges are higher but it made sense for me to have my credit card and current account in the same bank and to get something back on my spending.

The one thing I have found a little more difficult is to get large amounts of cash. They are a cashless bank so you can only withdraw cash on your card up to a limit of €700 a day and you can't call into a bank to get more. I recently needed to pay for something in cash and had to transfer money electronically and then visit a bank.

Overall I'm a lot more satisfied with KBC than I was with AIB.
 
Carmel - can I ask who you approached around this? I rang the mortgage centre at BOI as I am planning to do the same thing and they hold me there were no deals available, even though my LTV is less than 50%

Next call now is KBC :)
 
BoI

Hi there
I first contacted the person that we arranged our mortgage with, but she forwarded my query to another mortgage advisor. He then told me that it was the mortgage pricing unit who made decisions on mortgage rates. This happened just last week. He told me initially that the last time he had made the inquiry on behalf of a customer was two months ago, and at that time the answer was that there were no offers available. However, when he forwarded my query last week, they came back with that offer, so it may be a new policy.
 
@Carmel - any idea if BOI's offer has you switched to a lower LTV band or just offered you a new special rate?
 
Hi Leonmahon
I don't know, they just responded to my query with the offer above with different alternatives for a variable or fixed rate.
 
Carmel

That is great news. Bank of Ireland is actually trying to retain customers.

But they are doing nothing more than offering you the rate which they would offer to a new customer. In other words, they are treating existing customers with some respect. BoI Rates

Anyway, you should still switch to KBC - they are .65% cheaper, which on a €300k loan would be almost €2,000 a year.

If more people switched, Bank of Ireland would have to cut their rates to hold onto business and this could cause variable rates to fall towards the euro area average of 2.6% - probably less for low LTV mortgages.

They are desperate to get customers to fix for 5 years, as they expect these extortionate variable rates to fall, as I do.

I don't think you should fix.

Brendan
 
Anyway, you should still switch to KBC - they are .65% cheaper, which on a €300k loan would be almost €2,000 a year.

Brendan, you have previously advised me to wait and see if BOI reduce their rates before considering switching. Do you think that the waiting time is over, rates won't reduce and I should switch to KBC?
 
Hi leon

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showpost.php?p=1406374&postcount=26

That was before the other lenders insisted publicly that they would not be reducing mortgage rates.

I also suggested that you should ask BoI for a rate cut.

Carmel is getting a 0.65% reduction by moving. I think that is worth going for.

But given the banks' public insistence that they will not be dropping their rates and given the failure of the Minister for Finance to do anything about the extortionate rates, I think you should probably switch.

If there is a big switch, then I think that the banks will cop themselves on and introduce new rates for low LTV borrowers.

Brendan
 
However, when he forwarded my query last week, they came back with that offer, so it may be a new policy.

Interesting as I rang the mortgage centre directly on Friday afternoon, and was told no deals would be available

I have a LTV of less than 50% currently, a income to mortgage multiplier of less than 2.5 times, and have been overpaying my mortgage for the last year both in terms of my monthly repayments and also made a lump sum payment against it worth nearly 15% of the mortgage value.

Either way, I am going to talk to KBC and see what happens. Really surprised they were so adamant that there were no deals to be done !
 
Thanks for all the feedback. We have decided to proceed and will be applying to switch our mortgage to KBC. Will post again when we are further down the line.
 
Hi Carmel

I am a bit confused. Did BoI offer you a deal and then withdraw the offer? Or did you just decide that the offer was not good enough?

Brendan
 
Hi Carmel

I am a bit confused. Did BoI offer you a deal and then withdraw the offer? Or did you just decide that the offer was not good enough?

Brendan
Hi Brendan
We decided that the offer from BoI was not good enough. We should be able to get a rate of 3.55% variable with KBC, instead of 4.2 variable with BoI (they also offered 3.95 for 5 year fixed but we don't want to fix). The stage we are at now is that we have approval in principle, had our house valued last week and are just waiting for the loan offer now.
 
Tks Bronte
We have the loan offer from KBC now, 3.55 percent including discount for opening a current account with them.
 
Well done Carmel. It's good to see people voting with their feet & wallets. The more people who make an effort to switch for a better deal, the better. Once BoI and AIB start losing market share they'll sharpen up on their SVRs.
 
This is interesting. We have a 'small' mortgage with a low LTV. €78k over 24yrs. We have a BOI mortgage at 4.2%. If we got an SVR of 3.55% with KBC, we might think its not worth it because it'd be hassle to switch to 'only' be saving 30 euros per month, but this equates to a saving of over €8k over the lifetime of the mortgage.

Summary
Principal: €78,000 Payment: €430.32
Interest: 4.2%
Start date: Mar 2015 Total interest: €45,932.66
End date: Feb 2039 Total payments: €123,932.66

Summary
Principal: €78,000 Payment: €402.77
Interest: 3.55%
Start date: Mar 2015 Total interest: €37,998.86
End date: Feb 2039 Total payments: €115,998.86
SAVING: €7934

used https://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/ie/
 
I've been looking at KBC also regarding a switcher mortgage, the rates do look attractive but I notice on their "switcher" webpage they mention the offer "applies in only the first year", I haven't asked them yet but I imagine the rate would increase after the first year? has anyone else checked this with them?
 
Hi shegal

There is an asterisk and it refers to the following only.

[broken link removed]

50% off KBC Home Insurance for year one – Available to new residential mortgages i.e First Time Buyers, Movers and Switchers until 31st December 2015.*

*Offer only applies in the first year and excludes Buy to Let (BTLs) properties. Refund equal to the balance of the premium may be sought if the home insurance policy is cancelled within 12 months. KBC Home Insurance products are exclusively underwritten, administered and provided by Zurich Insurance plc, subject to Zurich Insurance underwriting terms and conditions.
 
Hi Brendan, thank you, that would make more sense, their site is a little confusing though as if you look at this page
[broken link removed]

They have two blue panels where they outline the rates, in the second one - at the bottom of the page- they outline the offer where if open a current account you get an extra reduction on the rate and there is a single asterisk there, which seems to point to the text you've highlighted above. I'm planning on calling them this week about it anyway so will double check.
 
Back
Top