In addition to the EBS mortgage illustration document there is also the “Inside Track” document/online magazine (collateral contract issue)by EBS. I can’t find this anywhere online. It is mentioned by poster Ides of March in another thread. This may also further clarify the “variable base rate” issue.
Here is evidence compiled from postsers on here & other sources that indicates the “variable base rate” to be applied after end of fixed term offer refers to moving onto a tracker rate or at least suggests there was reasonable grounds to be offered a tracker at that time:
*EBS loan offers that started off on a tracker includes definitions such as:
“Interest rate (Variable): 5.25%
Interest Rate Basis: Variable ECB Base + 1.25%”
EBS mortgages that started off on a fixed rate include definitions of rates such as:
“Interest rate after 3 years: Variable Base (Currently 05.25%)”
*Posters on this forum with the Variable base rate definition have pre October 2008 documentation from EBS that shows rate changes on their account are linked to changes in the ECB rate e.g “ Due to an increase in the ECB rate, the rate on your EBS loan account will rise by 0.25%.”
Posters with the variable base rate definition are now being told by EBS that it is a SVR rate. EBS have info & documentation online that confirms their SVR is “ not directly linked to any reference rate e.g. ECB base rate”. When there was a reduction in their SVR in 2014, AIB released a statement that applied to EBS stating “the reduction is not linked to the ECB base interest rate & will therefore not apply to tracker mortgage holders.”
*Mortgage advisor & broker mortgageireland.ie which is regulated by the Irish central bank released a glossary of terms in 2006 including definition of “variable base rate” calling it “a mortgage interest rate that can change over the term of the loan depending on the rates of the Central Bank meaning monthly payments can go up & down in a given month.”
*Multiple EBS fixed rate loan offers from 2004-2008 indicate that after fixed term the mortgage will move onto “variable base rate (currently 5.25%)”. Each of these offers with this “variable base rate” definition matches the ECB base rate at the time (e.g. 4.00% in August 2007)+ 1.25% points though this margin is not included in original loan offer.
*Also worth noting that there is evidence from posters here & accompanying EBS documentation that indicates SVR’s were not available at the time of loan offers that included fixed term to variable base rate terminology.
For instance EBS documents in 2004 reference 4 loan options-fixed,tracker,easy step & interest only. If SVR’s were not available at the time of the loan offer and SVR is not referenced in loan offer or contract,why have customers(with the variable base rate definition) been moved onto an SVR after fixed term is over?If SVR’s were not available at the time what is the Variable base rate in contracts referring to?