Your break fee should be zero at the moment – but it is volatile because wholesale interest rates are volatile, so confirm it with Bank of Ireland (and please post it here when you receive it, including the date of the letter).
- Switching immediately to Permanent TSB's 4-year fixed rate (2.05% with 2% monthly cashback) will save you about €3,980 over the next 4 years
- Note that Permanent TSB discriminate between new and existing customers, i.e., their best rates are not available to existing customers
- For example, if you were an existing Permanent TSB customer, the best rate you would be able to switch to today is 2.95%
- So if you switch to them now, you will not be eligible to switch to one of their low rates in the future and you will end up on a higher interest rate. When that happens, you may want to switch again to another lender, which will incur costs (and it might be impossible to switch if your financial situation has deteriorated).
- Switching immediately to Avant Money's 7-year fixed rate (2.15% with no cashback) will save you about €2,720 over the next 4 years – but with the longer security of 7 years on a fixed rate
- Switching immediately to Avant Money's 10-year fixed rate (2.3% with no cashback) will save you about €1,560 over the next 4 years – but with the even-longer security of 10 years on a fixed rate
- Switching immediately to Finance Ireland's 10- or 15-year fixed rate (2.65% with no cashback) will leave you worse off by about €1,140 over the next 4 years – but with the even-longer security of 15 years on a fixed rate
- This product has a benefit in relation to moving home in the future that is explained below
- And your interest rate (initially 2.65%) will automatically fall as time passes and you move into lower loan-to-value (LTV) brackets. See the section "How we decide rate reductions" on this page.
- Switching immediately to Bank of Ireland's 5-year fixed rate (3.0% with the 1% (€2,100) cashback in December 2024) will leave you worse off by about €250 over the next 4 years (or worse off by about €400 if they make you get a new valuation). But it is very simple and quick to do (no bank statements, salary cert or solicitor, etc., needed).
These savings estimates use for comparison the scenario of switching to the 2.90% rate with Bank of Ireland when the current fixed rate ends. And that's assuming that Bank of Ireland are even offering a 2.90% rate in December 2024 – it could be higher (or lower). You would get the Bank of Ireland €2,100 future cashback in such a scenario, and the savings estimates account for this. The estimates also account for any fees (solicitors' fees, valuation fee) that you have to pay and any cashback offered by the above lenders.
All of Avant's rates, and Finance Ireland's 10-year and longer fixed rates, allow you to avoid any potential break fee if you move home in the future (as long as you take out a new mortgage with them, and subject to certain conditions). And in the case of Finance Ireland you can "take your mortgage with you" – meaning that you get to keep the same interest rate when you move (again, subject to certain conditions).
The estimates also assume that your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is currently 199.6k/270.0k = 73.9%. A slightly higher property valuation (€286k) and/or a few more monthly mortgage payments and/or a small overpayment would get you into a lower LTV bracket (< 70%), and you would be eligible for lower rates from Avant and Finance Ireland. But that is probably not a good reason to delay the switch – i.e., you can start the switch immediately.
If you want savings estimates for longer-term fixed rates, let me know.
I think it's+/- €1,500 if my maths is right. Rates ... R/R-1 not sure which goes where.