Under 8 years left on mortgage - any point in switching?

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RiceCakes

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Our mortgage with BOI has €112K outstanding and we are paying €1400 pm @ 3% fixed (two more years left to run on fixed rate) with 89 months left according to one of the online calculators. The original maturity date is January 2037 which is what the BOI https://onlinemortgageviewer.bankofireland.com says currently also (but states it doesnt take into account overpayments) so we have knocked off about 7 years hopefully so far.
We are overpaying by about €400 (I think, we have been overpaying pretty much since the second year of the mortgage so dont know what the actual base amount should be by now).
The last renewal came in the post and just said they are offering 5 years at 3% at the same amount as before (€1400 with no mention of overpayment this time) so we don't really know where we stand offically in terms of overpayment now to be honest. The house value is about €450k

Obviously we would like to get on a better rate and preferably up our monthly payments by a few hundred as our circumstances are better than previously, are any banks likely to offer us say €1700 pm for 5/6 years term instead or thats too short at this stage?
 
The best option for you would be to switch to KBC who will give you a fixed €3,000 for switching.

There doesn't seem to be a minimum amount and others here have reported switching comparatively small mortgages.

It could be awkward for them to refuse you as you would make an immediate complaint to the CCPC which is currently considering BoI's application to take over the KBC mortgages.

Brendan
 
RiceCakes said:
he last renewal came in the post and just said they are offering 5 years at 3% at the same amount as before
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BoI gave me on 0.1pp discount on all quoted fixed rates six weeks ago. Just call them and ask. If you do nothing else you'll save a tenner or so a month.
 
Thanks guys very helpful advice.
I spoke to a very helpful lady on the BOI phone this morning.
If I were to break my current fixed term she said the fee currently for me would be €0
She could offer me 2.9% fixed for up to 2 years only.
I could change the amount I'm overpaying by breaking the current fixed term by going on variable for a week approximately, (no limit on over payments on variable apparently), then could go back to a fixed 3% for a new 5 year term on the same amount I was now paying on the variable.
My base payment is actually €784 so we are already nearly doubling that which is surprising.
I might put all this down on the other thread Paul mentions above to see what options there are, Brendan's 3k cashback sounds pretty nice have to say.
 
RiceCakes said:
My base payment is actually €784 so we are already nearly doubling that which is surprising.
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BoI claim they only allow 10% overpayment without penalty but I've read of examples like yours where they allow a lot more. I overpay about 14% with BoI.

Whatever you do be careful not to lose this arrangement if you like it.
 
That limit is only for overpaying a fixed mortgage. The workaround is they put you onto variable for a week at whatever payment you wish (there is no variable overpayment limit) then switch that amount to fixed. So theoretically you are not overpaying any longer.
 
I have submitted an application to KBC now, lets see what comes of it. If they won't bite or there isn't anything better then we probably will re-fix for 5 years from now at the higher amount which will take us near the end of it anyhow.
 
Also applied to Advant online and was appoved in principle, and spoke to one of their brokers, he advised with solicitor and valuation fee's its not really worth it for us (was looking for a six year mortgage).
Lets see what KBC say next, not sure if we want the hassle of valuations and paperwork if its only going to save us a few hundred over 6 years to be honest.
Looking likely we will re-fix with BOI for a higher amount for 5 years and do that again in a couple of years to see us out.
 
Rice Cakes

1) Irish banks cannot apply any early repayment penalty on a variable rate mortgage.
2)
NoRegretsCoyote said:
BoI claim they only allow 10% overpayment without penalty
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Banks have a formula to calculate the early repayment penalty. (It depends on the market rates today compared with when you fixed)
For many borrowers, this formula results in a nil penalty. That is a quirk of today's rates.
But some BoI customers would have a penalty.

And the fact that there is no penalty today does not mean that you would not have a penalty later.

3) Some posters have called their bank to be told that there is no penalty. They then apply to a new lender and by the time they get to switch, rates have changed, and there is a penalty.

@RiceCakes It might be worth breaking now and moving to variable without refixing until you hear back from KBC.

Brendan
 
Thanks Brendan, was thinking of doing that alright.
One other thing the lady on the phone suggested was changing the term from the original end date to the one we are planning for now.
I didn't really understand why that would beneficial to do other than it would change the base/original payment amount rate to the one we are now paying (so effectively normalising our current payment or rebasing it i suppose), would it affect interest calculations too ?
 
So we got approval in principle from KBC but my oh my the list of documentation they want is longer than the first mortgage!
In addition, my wife just returned to work as our kids are older now (as a health care worker) so is in a probationary period still but pretty much safe as houses and we stated this on the application. But, they have asked for proof that she isnt currently in a probationary period!

Sod it, dont have the energy to go though all that again. Their loss, we'll stick with BOI and extend the fixed period and up our monthly payment. The whole exercise has been an eye opener, delighted we can extend our fixed period without incurring a breakage fee and also shorten our remaining time by upping payments so we will take that as a win. Early retirement here I come :)
 
We just switched to KBC while I was on probation ...this was no issue for us, I just emailed the person dealing with out application pointing out that the loan required was well met by the income of the permanent applicant. Tbh they all want a load of documents but it's not that hard to get them together. But obviously much easier to stay with current bank.
 
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