Bank of Scotland+switcher mortgages

toby2111

Registered User
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Got info on BOS swithcher mortgages.Seems very attractive(they offer 2 year discounted,after that go on to their tracker) plus they pay legal fee's up to E1000 and valuation.Has anyone availed of this?Is there a hidden catch or penalties?Also I wonder will their rates shoot up once you've switched?Seems too good to be true!
 
The 'catch' is that you must stay with them for five years. if you leave them within 5 years, you must repay them the legal fee they gave you in th beginning to pay for the switch.

The other catch is that you may only pay a minimum excess of €1,000 off your mortgage at any time. EBS for example, calculate the interest rate daily, so if you knock an extra 20€ a week off the capital of your mortage with EBS, your capital will reduce more quickly, but so will the overall interest you pay on the mortgage. Therefore, the EBS method may actually save you more money (cheaper mortgage) than BOSI. Test this on amortisation tables- there are plenty of them online.

The tracker rate will be 1% only over the ECB rate for the lifetime of the mortgage (for LTV of 75% or less)
 
Cheers Triplex!I'm currently with EBS on their standard variable which is supposed to be the cheapest out there.So do you think I should stick with EBS?I'm a bit confused on "amortisation tables",sorry!
 
an amortization table tells you how much the mortage will cost you over the whole term of the loan.

check it out on this: http://mortgage-x.com/calculators/amortization.htm

try changing your interest rate/decreasing your term etc on the calculator to see how changes in either will affect you.

i can't advise you on whether or not to stick with EBS, but remember 2 things: you can switch mortgage lenders whenever you want, as often as you want and also, what appears great value in the shortterm can work out more expensive in the long term.

good luck!
 
For folks general attention, I used the BOS switcher mortgage even though I do not at present have a mortgage, to release equity in my present home, they paid the solicitor fees as mentioned above.
 
I was rather surprised that BOSI were able to get away with trying to say how much they would save you comparing 'standard variable rates' ('SVR')with their own SVR and then their tracker.

If anybody had not realised how easy it was to switch internally to a tracker with their own lender, then things are quite bad.

There is virtually no new business being written on SVR and I think that any comparisons by the likes of BOSI is a little disingenuous and people should realise that the 'Scottish Banks are not noted for their free lunches (or porridge) and if you want to see why they make large profits then look up 'moneyfacts' in the UK and see their term loan prices. Mouth watering if you are a banker. Tear jerking if you are a borrower.
 
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