Getting interest only on our mortgage

Hi,
We have our mortgage with ICS. We are considering moving to Oz for 2 years and renting our house out while we are gone. The rent would not cover our mortgage payments as they stand but if we could get interest only it would cover most of it. We are fully up to date on our payments.

We have about 70k in a long term saving a/c (that we can access if we had to) but my question is would the bank give us interest only when we have savings?

Any advice appreciated...

I would very much doubt if the bank would agree to an Interst Only mortgage given the circumstances you have provided. However I am no expert when it comes to second guessing how the banks think, gave up a long time ago!

On a separate note, you do know by renting your property that you would be liable for CGT (if applicable) when selling the property. You'll also have to file tax returns with revenue and ensure that you have some way of dealing with tenant issues from the other side of the world. I think your bank will be more interested in the fact you are renting the property, than offering you interest only, ie it's possible they could change your mortgage rate because you are renting.