Hi All,
First time poster but long-term lurker on this excellent site.
Myself and my husband have sale agreed on a house and are approved for a mortgage of 178k (LTV of 80%) with two different lenders - BOI and KBC. My question is which lender to choose?
BOI are offering variable rate of 4.5% and will not shift this rate despite me querying whether they can offer better (I know they have given lower variable rates to others on this site). They are trying to steer us towards one of their new lower fixed rates, which at 3.7% 1 year fixed seems pretty good. However I know the general consensus seems to be not to fix and wait to see what happens with the variable rates. BOI are also now offering 2% of mortgage amount back to cover stamp duty which is tempting at €3,560 in our case.
KBC are offering a discounted variable rate of 3.69%.
Any thoughts on which to go for? My concern over BOI is what the options might be after the year of fixed is up. Also, if they do lower their variable rate in our case to get our business, what's to stop them putting it up again in a few months? But the 2% back is tempting.... It seems from what I read on this site that everyone is trying to get away from variable rate mortgages from BOI and here we are contemplating signing up for one.
Which bank might be better in the long run?
I'd appreciate any advice.
First time poster but long-term lurker on this excellent site.
Myself and my husband have sale agreed on a house and are approved for a mortgage of 178k (LTV of 80%) with two different lenders - BOI and KBC. My question is which lender to choose?
BOI are offering variable rate of 4.5% and will not shift this rate despite me querying whether they can offer better (I know they have given lower variable rates to others on this site). They are trying to steer us towards one of their new lower fixed rates, which at 3.7% 1 year fixed seems pretty good. However I know the general consensus seems to be not to fix and wait to see what happens with the variable rates. BOI are also now offering 2% of mortgage amount back to cover stamp duty which is tempting at €3,560 in our case.
KBC are offering a discounted variable rate of 3.69%.
Any thoughts on which to go for? My concern over BOI is what the options might be after the year of fixed is up. Also, if they do lower their variable rate in our case to get our business, what's to stop them putting it up again in a few months? But the 2% back is tempting.... It seems from what I read on this site that everyone is trying to get away from variable rate mortgages from BOI and here we are contemplating signing up for one.
Which bank might be better in the long run?
I'd appreciate any advice.