Danske Bank/NIB to close down - hold onto your tracker

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

Founder
Messages
54,807
Danske has announced today that it is closing down its business in Ireland.

Most mortgages issued by Danske were cheap trackers, so it's possible that they might offer an incentive to get them paid off early. They haven't made any announcement on this and probably won't. But if you have a Danske Bank tracker, don't repay it yet.

It's certainly worth making an offer to pay it off early. All they can do is refuse you.
 
Made them a fair and reasonable second offer about 6 weeks ago, told me there will be no debt reductions or debt forgiveness exact wording and gave me the amount due to that days interest accrued to the cent, and the ECB rate had no effect on them.
Will hold tight
 
I have a tracker and I am just about equity - I would love the chance to exit and save a few quid. A good friend has a variable and is well under water - I would prefer to seem them get out of it. Hopefully something will come of it.

potnoodler, what do you consider to be a fair and reasonable offer?
 
This is a shame generally as Danske are very good to deal with, compared to some other banks I have experience with.

This will be interesting, I have a tracker with them, and it is linked to my current account (special lower tracker rate available at the time if I set up a current account with them). The current account incurs charges of €18.95 per quarter, so I wouldn't mind getting rid of that.

The reports state that they will run off existing mortgages on the current terms and conditions, this is great news. But I wonder how the above mentioned current account situation will effect it, as they will be withdrawing the service? As I say interesting, could save €80 a year and keep my tracker rate!
 
I'm in the same position as you Captain Z so very interested in what's going to happen, also. Have a very good tracker rate with them but a condition is having a current account with them. Is there any danger that we could lose out with the tracker or will they be obliged to honour this?

Will be following with interest.
 
potnoodler said:
Made them a fair and reasonable second offer about 6 weeks ago, told me there will be no debt reductions or debt forgiveness exact wording and gave me the amount due to that days interest accrued to the cent, and the ECB rate had no effect on them.
Will hold tight
Click to expand...

Hi potnoodler

As of that date, they were offically staying in Ireland. Now that they are leaving, it might change.

Hold tight, and maybe put in another offer later.

The key thing is that people should remain flexible. Don't go investing in other long-term products where you can't access your money if you need it to take advantage of a deal.

Brendan
 
I also have a .5% above ECB tracker with 13.5 yrs to run. Had to set up current account with pay going into is as condition. When I read the news of them closing, I did think I could pay it off if get discount and have my deeds!
I'll sit and wait to see what might happen.
 
Thanks ang1170.
They told me that it wasn't possible to make any changes to the current set up (I have this in writing). I run an expense account (incl mortgage) from a separate bank, and use the Dankse account for day to day stuff.

I'm gonna wait and see what develops over the next week or so, and then investigate further. I read you thread on dealing with Danske (my sympathies) to change and I could do without the hassle :)!
 
Buddyboy said:
People should also re-visit their investments and look at whether it is better to cash them in before year end so as to avoid the increase in exit tax, and give them the potential flexibility of availing of any offer that Danske bank propose in early repayment of thier tracker mortgage.
Click to expand...

Yeah its a reasonable idea, if Danske made a good offer, but our cash is tied up to fund a new extension, so no hope of clearing the mortgage. I want to hold onto it and continue pay the low rates.....
 
Does anyone know can Danske make you switch your Tracker Mortgage to another bank...?
 
Codogly said:
Does anyone know can Danske make you switch your Tracker Mortgage to another bank...?
Click to expand...

You have a contract with Danske and they can't break it. So they can't force you to move to, say, AIB.

Danske do have the right to sell your mortgage, but the buyer must honour the terms of the mortgage.

Brendan
 
Thanks Brendan ...thats what i thought ... will be interesting to see how Danske play this one ... i wonder would the consider using Certus which BOSI used to winddown its mortgage book here...?
 
[broken link removed]
This is their official statement - nothing new I'm afraid, but just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.
 
Current rules require you to either have a fee-paying current account from which your mortgage is paid or a non-fee-paying account from which ONLY the mortgage is paid, i.e. a mortgage servicing account.

This results in the need for standing orders and the amending of standing orders when interest rates change.

I wonder, now that they've made this announcement, will they allow direct debits for your mortgage directly from an external account? It'd make life a lot easier.
 
mcglough said:
potnoodler, what do you consider to be a fair and reasonable offer?
Click to expand...

I suppose this depends on the term left to run. For example, someone with 5 years left on their term wouldn't be offered anywhere near as much as someone with 20 years left on their term.

I'd imagine a 1% reduction for every year left on the term wouldn't even be enough but, if you were intending to trade up or rent out your property anyway, it may be sufficient to tempt some people into repaying early.

If accepting an offer would require you to remortgage to AIB, Bank of Ireland, etc., you'd need a significantly higher discount.
 
Query: If Danske were to offer, for example, a 25% writedown for early repayment, would there be any tax implications?
 
ronaldo said:
Query: If Danske were to offer, for example, a 25% writedown for early repayment, would there be any tax implications?
Click to expand...

HI ronaldo

I think you shouldn't jump the gun. Don't worry about the tax consequences until it happens.

It was discussed in this thread

the Duke reckoned

the forgiveness of the loan should be a taxable event. In fact a reduction of a debt is defined in the Tax Acts as a chargeable event for capital gains tax purposes.
Click to expand...

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I think you shouldn't jump the gun. Don't worry about the tax consequences until it happens.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm jumping the gun significantly here but was just interested in the discussion. With the CGT implications, I don't see Danske coming up with an offer that's worthwhile for the tracker mortgage holders unless they have some pretty unusual personal circumstances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top