Please help me somebody!!!! Last June I fixed the mortgages at 5.39% for 5 years with ICS, I rang them yesterday to see could I revert to the variable rate of 3.7%, they said I could no problem but wanted €21k to do so!!!!!!! Has anybody had any luck changing from fixed to variable with ICS without pay the penalty and even had it reduced.......My mortgage repayments are €1600 and would be reduced to about €1200 if I could change!!!!
In fairness you chose to fix the mortgage and no one held a gun to your head, you signed the contract, you gambled that rates would continue to rise but they did not. If rates had of risen and now your paying less than the standard variable, would you complain?
The only advice i have is to contact the bank and request a copy of the original documentation that states your breakage fee, its a long shot but banks make mistakes all the time and they made have made a mistake in yours.
Also, to the person who says they will "exaggerate my 'changed circumstances'", i'd be very careful with what you say. At the moment your paying your mortgage every month (i assume), thats all the bank cares about, you can cry poor mouth all you want but if your paying they wont care. But if you lie on a communication with a financial institution it can be taken as an attempt to fraud.
I think exaggerating changed circumstances is a fair ploy as far as it goes - obviously if you're put in a position were you have to prove something that's different but it's worth a go in the first instance.
I agree that no one put a gun to my head with regard to my mortgage and if you look at my last post above you'll see that I acknowledge that. The real point is the restrictive effect of the Break-out clause. It is arguable that a term in a contract, as a Mortgage effectively is, that ties you too that contract while professing to give you the opportunity to get out of it, is potentially unfair and I would contend contrary to the Unfair Terms Regulations. I have 18 months left on my fixed rate - the break-out fee is equivalent to 9 months payments (50% in anyone's book). I think you would agree that a term such as that is ridiculoulsy restrictive. I'm not looking for a free lunch - the Bank will still get paid as they have done every month but the argument as to the unfairness of the contract arising from an unequal bargaining position remains and I believe it is a strong one.