Hi,
Just wondering has anyone got, or thought of getting their mortgage through the council rather than banks/building societies.
I have just been offered somewhere and adviced that the council was probably better to get the mortgage through?
Any advice would be appreciated
I cannot comment on rates etc.
But a major drawback to mortgaging with them (well Dublin City Council anyway) for affordable housing is that if you want to re-mortgage in the future (eg debt consolidation, build extension) the council demand the clawback aswell.
My advice comes from having a mortgage with Cork County Council.
The rate on my local authority loan is good - at the moment it is 5.25%.
However the good value is diminished by the obligatory mortgage insurance of ~0.6% raising the overall rate to ~6.35%. I was told that I cannot change my insurance because it is a local authority loan. This is not the case with mortgage insurance in private sector.
The clawback is triggered if you
1) sale the house
2) remortgage to release equity
3) remortgage to secure a cheaper rate
irrespective of whether you house is with banks or council under current legislation.
New legislation is being introduced to facilitate a remortgage without triggering clawback.