EBS no longer offer fixed rate mortgages

davgtrek

As of from 5pm tomorrow evening they will not offer a fixed rate for current or new customers !!!

whats in the pipeline for next 12 months with mortgage interest rates that have the banks running from fixed ???

john_cappa

Yeah one wonders what the big push is to get people off fixed rate morgages!

Bullseye1

This is obviously to compensate for their tracker mortgage portfolio. They cannot touch them so the will hammer everyone else.

danbohan

Bullseye1 wrote: »

This is obviously to compensate for their tracker mortgage portfolio. They cannot touch them so the will hammer everyone else.

well if the reports today of 6 interest rate rises by 2012 by the ecb are true trackers will start getting hammered too

Tabnabs

Here's the full story http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0217/1224290026764.html

Am very unhappy about this :mad:

average_runner

Its a scary time for people on variable mortages. The trackers were the bargain of the century even with house prices crashing, people on trackers could end up better off even.

Look at the market now where I live in Dublin.

House price is down 50G at the moment.
But tracker is .5 so thats 1.5 while variable is 5.3 in places
So think that works out a good 500 extra on a mortage a month?

If those figures are correct, people on tracker are saving 6000 a year extra on mortage and if smart they could put that 6000 etc into high interest a/c(ie higher than mortage rate) they be saving maybe 6500 a year?


Trackers will always be 4% at least behind variable for next 10 years so that be a sum of 65,000 saved.


Interest rates in banks wont come down till the house market picks up, ie house prices rises, which is how far away???

john_cappa

how high do people see the variable rates going? wil they surpass 7 %?

average_runner

i think between 8.5 - 9% worst case

Bullseye1

danbohan wrote: »

well if the reports today of 6 interest rate rises by 2012 by the ecb are true trackers will start getting hammered too

Have you a link? Most ECB rises will be in 0.25% increments. Current variable rates have been subject to higher jumps.

The EU growth is still very sluggish. I cannot see a 1.5% rate hike that soon.

average_runner

Trackers will rise in the future but if a tracker goes up .25% the variable will go up again by this amount at least. EBS and PTSB have said no more increases unless ECB rate go up and their variable will go up.

ssbob

I went into EBS Patrick Street just before christmas enquiring about a fixed rate but it would have meant an extra €250 a month whereas the 0.6% will prob be about €80 on my mortgage, I don't see any rises with the ECB until the Autumn at least.

If I can't pay the mortagage then they can take the keys....end of, I am sick of getting pushed around by the banks. You may say I was the bigger fool for taking out the mortgage but when I did, I didn't expect to get it, I had not even even worked a full year since I had finished college......crazy lending practices!!!

davgtrek

I am in a quandry on this whole thing. I can push the button on 5.2% fixed in the morning for next 3 years with EBS ( current fixed is now up thankfully ) however my employment scenario has taken a nose dive this week. herself is working in public service so thats not too bad but it will be a struggle/ just doable to pay the new 5.2 rate )

if we fix tomorrow then we get screwed by bank if we have to break the fixed contract in say 8 months to re-negotiate ( interest only or extend ter, etc. ) if we can't pay the current amount !!!

But ebs at 4.5% variable from april 1st anyway so that only 1-2 hikes away from 5.2% so WHAT SHOULD I DO ? Any advice as its now fairly urgent !!

thanks

danbohan

ssbob wrote: »

I went into EBS Patrick Street just before christmas enquiring about a fixed rate but it would have meant an extra €250 a month whereas the 0.6% will prob be about €80 on my mortgage, I don't see any rises with the ECB until the Autumn at least.

If I can't pay the mortagage then they can take the keys....end of, I am sick of getting pushed around by the banks. You may say I was the bigger fool for taking out the mortgage but when I did, I didn't expect to get it, I had not even even worked a full year since I had finished college......crazy lending practices!!!

I didn't expect to get it, I had not even even worked a full year since I had finished college......crazy lending practices!!!

or would that be crazy borrowing practice ?

john_cappa

Indeed! It takes two tango!

Kennie1

Bullseye1 wrote: »

The EU growth is still very sluggish. I cannot see a 1.5% rate hike that soon.

I wish this was taken into consideration like they do in the Fed Reserve in the US, but the main funtion of the ECB is to control inflation by increasing interest rates. If the main countries inflation rate rises above 2.5%(i think this is the rate) the ECB must rise rates to control and manage inflation, so therefore we could well see ECB interest rates of up to 2.5% by the end of 2012

Bullseye1

What is inflation in Germany and France at the moment?

Bullseye1

Just checked this web page. Appears German Inflation is currently 1.9 with a steady increase over the past number of months.

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Inflation-CPI.aspx?symbol=DEM

ssbob

danbohan wrote: »

I didn't expect to get it, I had not even even worked a full year since I had finished college......crazy lending practices!!!

or would that be crazy borrowing practice ?

Yes of course I was mad to be borrowing in hindsight however in Dec 2006/Jan 2007, I wasn't expecting the crash that happened, therefore I wasn't expecting the construction company I was working for to go bust, the banks knew they were in trouble long before we did so I feel it was reckless lending.

I could of course afford the mortgage at the time but what ensued was totally new to me, only born in 1985 so have always lived in the good times. The choice between paying €900 on rent or €1100 on mortgage was pretty simple.

nb83

would anyone know if a fixed interest rate offer is valid for 7 days from the day the letter is dated?

ssbob

nb83 wrote: »

would anyone know if a fixed interest rate offer is valid for 7 days from the day the letter is dated?

The only way to check is by ringing your bank but I suspect they would be bound to 7 or 14 days as per their own t & c's

nb83

ya they seem to be sticking to the 7 days but i didnt get the letter till day 5 and posted it back on day 7 and received a letter last week saying that they didnt receive the letter in the 7 days and they wont be offering me the fixed rate. Im currently trying to fight it cause im only out by about a day and i cant control the post.

BostonB

ssbob wrote: »

...If I can't pay the mortagage then they can take the keys....end of, ...

You can do that in other countries but not in Ireland.

ssbob

BostonB wrote: »

You can do that in other countries but not in Ireland.

Wishful thinking on my part.

nb83

i would have always thought it would have been 7 working days but now there including the weekend as part of the 7 days! Its totally unfair.

BostonB

Its probably in the small print somewhere what the 7 days refers too. (I assume).

nb83

no nothing, believe me ive searched! I got a letter last year in relation to the same issue and it did specify 7 working days but am I to just assume that because it didnt say working days that the weekend is included?

Monty Burnz

ssbob wrote: »

You may say I was the bigger fool for taking out the mortgage but when I did, I didn't expect to get it, I had not even even worked a full year since I had finished college......crazy lending practices!!!

Sorry, don't mean to be rude, but if you didn't want it, you shouldn't have filled out all those forms asking for it.

Anyway, I hope it works out for you.

BostonB

nb83 wrote: »

no nothing, believe me ive searched! I got a letter last year in relation to the same issue and it did specify 7 working days but am I to just assume that because it didnt say working days that the weekend is included?

That would be my take on it.

7 days vs 7 Working Days

ssbob

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Sorry, don't mean to be rude, but if you didn't want it, you shouldn't have filled out all those forms asking for it.

Anyway, I hope it works out for you.

Hey Monty see what I said above, I did of course want the mortgage because I was paying €900 a month in rent(dead money in my eyes). Looking back on the situation I too agree with everyone that I was maybe overextending myself a little however the banks knew that they were in trouble a long time before we found out so in that case I reckon it is wreckless lending.

I am confident that i will get out of the mess I am in however I am not too confident of ever being able to live comfortably as I would have thought I would be by now.

ssbob wrote: »

Yes of course I was mad to be borrowing in hindsight however in Dec 2006/Jan 2007, I wasn't expecting the crash that happened, therefore I wasn't expecting the construction company I was working for to go bust, the banks knew they were in trouble long before we did so I feel it was reckless lending.

I could of course afford the mortgage at the time but what ensued was totally new to me, only born in 1985 so have always lived in the good times. The choice between paying €900 on rent or €1100 on mortgage was pretty simple.

Kennie1

nb83 wrote: »

ya they seem to be sticking to the 7 days but i didnt get the letter till day 5 and posted it back on day 7 and received a letter last week saying that they didnt receive the letter in the 7 days and they wont be offering me the fixed rate. Im currently trying to fight it cause im only out by about a day and i cant control the post.

Did you keep the envolope that the letter came in, as this would have the post mark date on it!

km79

with ulster bank it was 10 days from date of letter which gave me 2 days to get it back to them which i did just!!!

nb83

was that 10 business days? did it specify in the letter tht it was valid for 10 days from the date on the letter?

km79

no ten calendar days. by the time i got the letter it had to be sent back the next day. it stated on the letter "rates are valid for 10 days from date of lettet but are subject to change". to be honest i thought they wud use the second half of sentence to get out of it but to their credit they honoured the letter.

Kennie1

Hold on a second, they cant produce a letter and say that you have 10 days and then hold on to it for 4 or 5 day in their out box before they decide to post it. Thats why the post mark date is so important, I would certainly argue this point with them and if they would not honor this I would make an offical complaint and then esculate the complaint to the ombudsman!

nb83

Thats the thing there is no post stamp on the letter! Ive sent the envelope back to An Post to see if they can do anything for me. Hopefully they can prove it wasnt sent till the 7th cause I didnt receive it till the 8th. Its so unfair that the bank get 5 days to send it out and I get 2 days to send it back! And the 7 days includes the weekend!

Kennie1

If you look closely at the envelope you will notice a bar code which is printed with ultravilot ink, this has the post information on it so they should be able to give you the post date!

nb83

ya i saw that barcode alright so hopefully if i can prove that it was posted late it will help my case to get the fixed rate.