NIB LTV mortgage in light of new property register.

thedarkone

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Hi
I have a NIB Tracker mortgage that has an 80% LTV covenant. I was wondering if anyone had any insight into why this covenant has not been called by NIB/Danske up until now, and (appreciating that some of the points were already discussed in this 2011 thread) whether the new property register will have any bearing on a future decision to call an LTV breach.

Possible reasons they have not done so before might be
1. Danske feel that they have been partly culpable in creating property boom and bust with mortgages such as these and therefore feel they have a moral obligation not to...cynic in me says "what, a moral bank?" However, I do know some years ago they did publicly say that they would not invoke the LTV clause, so maybe I am being unfair
2. Possible loss of deposits from a PR backlash...can't really see this as a reason
3. Cost/Benefit: Benefits are higher interest income/cashflow from lump sum downpayments versus costs: administrative nightmare, probably lots of challenges & complaints from customers at a time when they are reducing their customer facing numbers; will affect the performance of the loan book (as invariably this will put some people over the edge); could very will lead to a lot of "strategic defaults", as people seek to protect their tracker under the code of conduct under the arrears...with the admin burden that will bring.
4. Absence of specific market data, which the property register will now bring, leading to possibly targeted LTV calls.

Personally I think reason 3 is most realistic...I know, even though I am able to service my mortgage, I would make life difficult including considering calling a strategic default under the code until they worked through my case, protect my tracker and use the intervening time to consolidate a lump sum to "cure" the breach.

But that's just a punter's view. Anyone else with a little more industry insight?
 
I have an NIB tracker.
From memory the rates ranged from .5% above ECB for LTV of 50% up to .8% for higher LTV ratios.

If someone borrowed 250K for a 500k house, they qualifed for .5% tracker. Just say their house has devalued to 250K but they have paid 50K off their mortgage, you could argue the LTV is not 50% anymore but 80%, so NIB could move them to a higher tracker.
But the higher rate is .8% (only .3% above what they are currently paying) so maybe NIB feel it's not worth the hassle of potential court cases to pursure this.
 
Shawady, your example is useful but takes one end of the extreme i.e. a 50% starting LTV.

I think the issue is probably more pertinent for those who borrowed at the 60-70% LTV range. Taking your example, that would mean they borrowed €325k, mortgage now €275k, but to meet the 80% test they need a mortgage of €200k. So the borrower either puts the hand down the back of the couch and pays NIB €75k or else switched to a variable rate mortgage of €275k from NIB, which would be 4.35% rather than 1.3% for the remainder of the term. For this, I think NIB would have considered it pursuing?
 
Maybe NIB looked into it and came to the conclusion the LTV ratio was only valid at the time of signing the contract?
It is probable that there are many people that have a LTV greater than 100% but NIB probably never had a corresponding rate to cover this.

Someone on .8% LTV is now paying a mortgage interest rate of 1.55% (.8 + .75) so for the bank to move them to a variable of over 4% may be deemed unjust by law?
 
Maybe NIB looked into it and came to the conclusion the LTV ratio was only valid at the time of signing the contract?

The T&C's of the loan are quite clear (IMHO), if the 80% LTV is breached at any time during the life of the mortgage, they can switch you to a variable mortgage.
 
The T&C's of the loan are quite clear (IMHO), if the 80% LTV is breached at any time during the life of the mortgage, they can switch you to a variable mortgage.

I did not know that. Just a couple of points.

Is the LTV calculated on the original amount borrowed or what is currently owed. For example, if someone borrowed 250k for a 500k house but only owe 200k, whihc amount is used to calculate the LTV; 200k or 250K?

If someone is on a 50% LTV and that is breeched, do they automatically move to a variable rate even if they would qualify for a 80% LTV?
 
Shawady, don't have the contract in front of me but
1. I'd be certain it is the current LTV i.e. debt today/value today i.e. 200k, that is how commercial LTV's work (and I work in a finance dept of the property sector).

2. The overriding LTV condition of the loan, irrespective of the starting LTV, is 80% LTV. So, if you were on a 50% LTV but moved to say 79% LTV, they could rebase your tracker to something marginally higher, but no, you would not move to variable (and as you say, what would be the point of them doing this for a marginal increase in margin). Move to 81%, you would move to variable, but as the loan can be repaid at any time, there is an implicit cure right.
 
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