Switching Mortgage - Risk?

You should definitely explore switching more. Especially given you are likely to save a full percent on your current rate.

I've switched 3 times in past 5 years and made great savings.

Just bear in mind you need to pay legal fees (pay for a solicitor) for each switch. Which could be around 2 grand. So factor that into what savings you will make.

You've been through the mortgage procedure already so I don't see the need to pay for a broker on top of it. It's a pain to gather up all the documents each time but worth it.

2000 for a switch is crazy money. I was quoted several times for under 1500.

Can I ask what a "break fee" is? Is it a fee I have to pay to leave my current mortgage provider? Do all providers have these or only some?

Avant Money seem like a good option to investigate - sounds like I then need a broker and solicitor

Sorry - jumping in on this as I've been looking to switch too! It's mainly the hassle stopping me.

My solicitor when I bought my apt was useless so can I get all the documents I need through my current mortgage provider and hire a new solicitor? What documents are they?

Also I have 116k left to pay. Was thinking about paying 20k off it in a lump sum before switching but think I read if I go below 100k new banks won't bother taking on my mortgage? I'm being ripped off on a 3.3% variable with ESB...😬

Thanks so much for such useful advice and taking the time to reply. Great news really as I've been so lazy on the hassle of organising it.

The catch, if you can consider it a catch, is often in the terms of conditions. For instance some of the mentioned lenders do not support ever over paying your mortgage, you're committing to 30 years or whatever at the outset. Family members are buying there first home with https://www.financeireland.ie/products/residential-mortgages/mortgage-rates/ and the terms and conditions seem great compared to what was on offer a few years ago. The ability to overpay by 10% of the mortgage in any given year, the ability to bring your mortgage with you if you buy a new home etc also they are experienced with public/civil service pay scales so calculate the lending threshold more favorably. Note I'm not a broker, I've never done business with this crowd, details are all on the site and I'm sure are subject to change, not financial advice. It's just an example where there seems to be a lot you can get if you shop around these days. The departure of Ulster bank and KBC from the Irish market isn't good, but it seems to have opened the door for new entrants or existing lenders to expand into the Mortgage business.

Not sure where to start on this, but you're wrong. It's typical for fixed rate mortgages to limit overpayment in Ireland. Where do you think the concept of a breakage fee comes from?

States here the maximum you can overpay in any given month is 10% with bank of Ireland. Overpayment is something at the agreement of the lender. KBC for instance applies max 10% of capital overpayment limit at the start of the fixed payment period. As you can see BOI policy is more onerous than that.

Look I'm not going to get into this, your assertion they cannot prevent you overpaying is wrong. Every lender has an overpayment policy. This is why you don't take financial advice from people on the internet.

What type of mortgage actually prohibits you though? You can overpay what you want on fixed, variables and trackers, this must be 99% of the mortgage types in Ireland.

My point is, the banks try scare people away saying, in BOI's instance, you can only overpay 10% per month but this is total crap. For many people, who fixed over the last couple years, break fees are currently nothing (due to interbank rates increasing relative to a few years ago), meaning you can overpay any figure with zero fees.

I'll run through an example: Last year, I paid a substantial lump sum off a fixed rate mortgage (1 year into a 5 year fixed) of 50k. The break fee I was quoted was 0.8% of that figure, so 400 euro. However, by making the payment, I was saving 5,800 euro in interest payments over the remaining fixed rate period, not to mention the rest of the lifetime of the mortgage. This made the net savings of 5,400 euro over 4 years.

My point is, if you have spare money and you want to overpay your mortgage, even if you're on a fixed rate, probably 9 times out of 10 you're making substancial savings. Don't let the banks deter you.

If you break and fix at lower rate it can be worth it.

Derby, if you need it).

With the announcement today, is it too late to switch?

Have the form here with one year left in a fixed term. Had planned to go to a 5 year fixed but if that's going to have 0.5 percent on it might not bother