"High mortgage rates is a far bigger issue than water charges"

[Brendan Burgess]

A great article by Charlie Weston which puts the negotiations for the new government into some sort of perspective.

The great rip-off: how banks are fleecing us

"
Water costs just a drop in the ocean compared to variable mortgage rates.


This country would break your heart.

For the two months since the general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have argued over water bills.

The cost for a year of the bills Irish Water has issued is €260 for a family. When you take account of the conservation grant, the net cost is even lower.

The rip-off on variable rate mortgages amounts to €2,500 a year. And this issue affects some 300,000 families."

 

[rodger]

BOI charging 4.5% variable

 

[odyssey06]

I have zero confidence that the water bills would continue to have worked out at that amount, and they impact more 'families' (whatever happened to people or households) than the variable mortgage amounts. In the UK the average bill is already close to £400, we could easily have seen bills for €500 and no €100 refund.
Variable mortgage rates are a rip-off, Charlie Weston should have just kept hammering the banks and government and know better than to confuse things with dodgy comparisons to water bills, and to resort to the 'families' nonsense (although maybe that's his subeditor). It's like the headline 'Dad shot'.

 

[Clonback]

I agree 100% with charlies assessment and cannot understand why people would not take to the streets over this massive interest rate ripoff.
Charlie,thanks for fighting our corner and keep it up Lets hope our day is near

 

[Sarenco]

According to Charlie Weston's article:

"Variable mortgage rates in this country are currently the highest in the eurozone.

The average variable rate mortgage holder here is paying 2pc more than their eurozone counterpart.

Rates here are 2pc higher than the eurozone average.

A study by the Irish Independent shows first-time buyers and existing homeowners are paying a huge premium for the same mortgage compared to counterparts in France, Germany, Spain and Cyprus."

But are these statements accurate?

The average (median) rate on all outstanding variable rate home loans in Ireland is actually almost exactly at the Eurozone average.

It is certainly true that average new floating home loan rates are markedly higher in Ireland than the Eurozone average (1.34% of a difference per the latest ECB statistics).

However, even that statistic doesn't tell you the full story. On the continent it is very common for lenders to charge (not insignificant) fees in addition to interest payments, whereas such fees are unheard of in Ireland. On the contrary, substantial cash-back offers are now a significant feature of our mortgage market (for good or ill).