Mortgage - low fee for breaking fixed rate

Q&A · 03-03-2020 8:24am

nephster wrote: »

Yes, they did. In fact the first lady I spoke to last Monday specifically told me to ring again nearer the end of the week if the letter hadn't arrived, as the quote is only good for about 10 days but once the letter is on file they can see the details. She said I'd then be able to pay any fee by card over the phone, or arrange a transfer if it was above my card limit.
So I rang again on Thursday, was put on hold for a minute, the lady told me the break fee of zero and I happily accepted to pay nothing Just had to wait till Letter 1 arrived so we could sign it and accept a specific rate.

Get you now. I read it first that you could just phone up and get the break fee there and then like other banks. It's still the same hoop jumping. I was getting my hopes up!

Time2GetFit · 03-03-2020 3:09pm

Contacted UB a couple of weeks ago regarding breakage fee......like many it took the usual 5-10 days to receive the letter.

Looked at the breakage cost and didn’t make financial sense to change.......we’re 2 years into 4 year fixed at 2.6%. Not the end of the world we’ll sit tight I thought.

Then I notice in the letter it states the rate expires in September 2022 not April 2022 (we drew down in April 2018). Assumed it was an error and contacted them and informed me all was correct. The 4 years Is just a term used but the Loan Offer I signed would have said the date of expiration. Checked and sure enough it says 300922 (in that format).

I’m not denying I signed it etc and not the biggest of deals but surely such a practice is extremely misleading bordering on mis-selling?? Indeed I may have to potentially overpay for a number of extra months than planned should rates continue to have dropped below our current 2.6%. This wasn’t the first time we had switched provider and I’ve never heard of such a practice. My assumption which I feel is reasonable is I was signing up for 48 months at the rate.

Anyone else any experience of it? Thanks all

ygaurav · 03-03-2020 9:54pm

Hi All

I hope I can piggyback on this thread to get some advice on Bank Of Ireland Funding fees.

I am in the process of moving my mortgage from Bank of Ireland (3 years fixed, contract finishing in Oct 2020) to Ulster Bank. Bank of Ireland has stated that its funding fees 596 euros.

This feels too high to me, does anybody know how it is calculated? Is there any way around it?

thanks

Darc19 · 03-03-2020 10:45pm

ygaurav wrote: »

Hi All

I hope I can piggyback on this thread to get some advice on Bank Of Ireland Funding fees.

I am in the process of moving my mortgage from Bank of Ireland (3 years fixed, contract finishing in Oct 2020) to Ulster Bank. Bank of Ireland has stated that its funding fees 596 euros.

This feels too high to me, does anybody know how it is calculated? Is there any way around it?

thanks

If you fixed 2.5 years ago the funding fee would have been quite high. I remember ptsb funding fees were almost 2%, Boi would have been lower, but is now about 0.4%

€596 and I'd hazard a guess that the balance on your mortgage is about €450,000?

Darc19 · 03-03-2020 10:54pm

Time2GetFit wrote: »

Contacted UB a couple of weeks ago regarding breakage fee......like many it took the usual 5-10 days to receive the letter.

Looked at the breakage cost and didn’t make financial sense to change.......we’re 2 years into 4 year fixed at 2.6%. Not the end of the world we’ll sit tight I thought.

Then I notice in the letter it states the rate expires in September 2022 not April 2022 (we drew down in April 2018). Assumed it was an error and contacted them and informed me all was correct. The 4 years Is just a term used but the Loan Offer I signed would have said the date of expiration. Checked and sure enough it says 300922 (in that format).

I’m not denying I signed it etc and not the biggest of deals but surely such a practice is extremely misleading bordering on mis-selling?? Indeed I may have to potentially overpay for a number of extra months than planned should rates continue to have dropped below our current 2.6%. This wasn’t the first time we had switched provider and I’ve never heard of such a practice. My assumption which I feel is reasonable is I was signing up for 48 months at the rate.

Anyone else any experience of it? Thanks all

Ulster always sell a time defined fixed rate and the end date is advertised on almost all promotional advertising.

People need to read what they are signing. You can't use the argument that you "thought"

But 2.6% is fairly decent anyway.

Time2GetFit · 04-03-2020 12:57am

Darc19 wrote: »

Ulster always sell a time defined fixed rate and the end date is advertised on almost all promotional advertising.

People need to read what they are signing. You can't use the argument that you "thought"

But 2.6% is fairly decent anyway.

100% acknowledge as I stated that I signed it so it’s fundamentally on me.

I do think in terms of financial products hearing and signing up to 4 years would lead to the conclusion that it lasts 4 years / 48 months from date of drawdown not an indicative 4 years.

2.6% is a good rate but wherever savings can be made to shorten the length of mortgage is something I’ll try and take advantage of wherever possible.

Agreed though And it’s a relatively inexpensive lesson. Still think it’s bordering on misselling but that’s just my opinion.

bugsyb4 · 04-03-2020 12:21pm

Weighting up switching in the summer when our 3 year fixed with BOI is up which is currently set at 3% and moving to KBC 2.25% assuming can get LTV under 60% which I think we should be able to wrangle. BOI have said best rate they can put us on now is 2.9% but have reached out to branch where we originally took out mortgage to see if they can do better, waiting to hear back on this.

As it is 3% v 2.25% would save us €70 a month on mortgage based on figure KBC provided our monthly payments would be.

A few questions I have:

At the time we took out mortgage with BOI they gave us 2% of our mortgage back within I think it was a month of DD, can they clawback this amount? They are also due to provide us with a further 1% after 5 years (Aug 2022) which is another factor when weighting up decision to switch as will need to forego this payment if move to KBC.

Just got a quote from our solicitor to do the switch and if coming in quite high final total of €1,885. Her fee is fine €900 excluding VAT. There are a few other fees on her quote that never knew about and have been estimated, see below:

Fees to Bank of Ireland to take up Title documents €63.00
Fees to Bank of Ireland to discharge existing mortgage €40.00
Up to date Folio File Plan €40.00
Commissioner for Oaths €30.00
Fees to Land Registry to register Mortgage €175.00
Search Fees (Estimated) €180.00
Planning Search (Estimated) €250.00
TOTAL: €778.00

It is mainly the last 3 I am querying as these are the pricier ones is there any way of saving here? I know we paid Registration Duty of €915 when we originally bought and for Searches of €200, so is it correct we have to pay once again?? It probably is but just annoying is all..

Doing basic maths on this our net saving taking everything into account based off 2 year term would be around €300 was hoping to clear a lot more than this been honest. I suppose the fact we get the 3k switching payment here and now when it is needed is a factor that pushes me towards going ahead with it but have heard of some horror stories of people switching to KBC too.

Sorry about long post and any suggestions on this would be appreciated, thanks.

TakeTheVeil · 04-03-2020 1:03pm

Clawbacks - Banks are not allowed to clawback any cashbacks since an EU change in 2016. Some banks have restrictions in place that say you have to be with your previous bank for 1+ year to discourage multiple switches in 1 year.
Mortgage Fees - Solicitor fees can sometimes be negotiated however the land registry fees, etc are standard across the board. You might benefit to get a few more quotes for switching, for example Direct Law in Skerries have lower fees. You can then use this to ask you solicitor to lower their fees especially if they had managed your original or previous mortgage.

Time2GetFit · 04-03-2020 1:04pm

bugsyb4 wrote: »

Weighting up switching in the summer when our 3 year fixed with BOI is up which is currently set at 3% and moving to KBC 2.25% assuming can get LTV under 60% which I think we should be able to wrangle. BOI have said best rate they can put us on now is 2.9% but have reached out to branch where we originally took out mortgage to see if they can do better, waiting to hear back on this.

As it is 3% v 2.25% would save us €70 a month on mortgage based on figure KBC provided our monthly payments would be.

A few questions I have:

At the time we took out mortgage with BOI they gave us 2% of our mortgage back within I think it was a month of DD, can they clawback this amount? They are also due to provide us with a further 1% after 5 years (Aug 2022) which is another factor when weighting up decision to switch as will need to forego this payment if move to KBC.

Just got a quote from our solicitor to do the switch and if coming in quite high final total of €1,885. Her fee is fine €900 excluding VAT. There are a few other fees on her quote that never knew about and have been estimated, see below:

Fees to Bank of Ireland to take up Title documents €63.00
Fees to Bank of Ireland to discharge existing mortgage €40.00
Up to date Folio File Plan €40.00
Commissioner for Oaths €30.00
Fees to Land Registry to register Mortgage €175.00
Search Fees (Estimated) €180.00
Planning Search (Estimated) €250.00
TOTAL: €778.00

It is mainly the last 3 I am querying as these are the pricier ones is there any way of saving here? I know we paid Registration Duty of €915 when we originally bought and for Searches of €200, so is it correct we have to pay once again?? It probably is but just annoying is all..

Doing basic maths on this our net saving taking everything into account based off 2 year term would be around €300 was hoping to clear a lot more than this been honest. I suppose the fact we get the 3k switching payment here and now when it is needed is a factor that pushes me towards going ahead with it but have heard of some horror stories of people switching to KBC too.

Sorry about long post and any suggestions on this would be appreciated, thanks.

We switched from BOI to UB back in April 2018. We were in a similar position to yourself but we actually broke out of our fixed slightly earlier so was also concerned about potential clawback of the 2%. Spoke with our solicitor who was handling the switch at the time (their fees were €1,280.50 all in) who explained they may / may not try to claw it back but the final redemption figure is what you have to pay to switch and that will include all relative penalties (breakage cost in our case as we were exiting within 3 years) and charges.

Once you pay that figure your contract with BOI is complete and they can’t come back asking for the money they gave at the start.

They didn’t claw back the money in our case. Don’t UB have 2.2% fixed rate you could avail of? If you do go down that route see my post a few above and make sure you know when the rate expires!

calistro · 04-03-2020 4:29pm

Brilliant thread folks!

Wonder could someone answer the below for me please regarding a switch.

I have a tracker mortgage with PTSB which I'm keeping, some years back we took out another small mortgage for house renovations so as not to loosed the tracker rate. Had never really thought much about it until this thread and I checked the VR which is 5.8%!! My question is, if I switch, what do I use as the LTV?, is it the values on the main tracker mortgage ?

Thanks for any help.

Darc19 · 04-03-2020 8:41pm

Hold off making a decision until the fixed rate is finished. You may find Boi will have reduced their rates to compete with aib, ub and KBC.

Also the 1% extra lump sum may make Boi the best value for you.

Soarer · 05-03-2020 2:24pm

I've twice broken my fixed rate with AIB in recent months, and haven't been charged a breakage fee either time.

First time was back in November.
Was on a fixed rate and they announced their 5 year Green rate of 2.5%. Breakage fee was calculated at €0, so I swapped.
Then last week they announced their Green rate was dropping to 2.45%. Received confirmation today that there's €0 breakage fee again, so sent off the amendment form while ago.
I know that second one only works out at around €8.30 per month, but it's better in my pocket than theirs.

jack in the box · 05-03-2020 7:28pm

calistro wrote: »

Brilliant thread folks!

Wonder could someone answer the below for me please regarding a switch.

I have a tracker mortgage with PTSB which I'm keeping, some years back we took out another small mortgage for house renovations so as not to loosed the tracker rate. Had never really thought much about it until this thread and I checked the VR which is 5.8%!! My question is, if I switch, what do I use as the LTV?, is it the values on the main tracker mortgage ?

Thanks for any help.

Tracker plus your small mortgage divided into the value of your home is your LTV. You will more than likely lose your tracker if you switch banks. There is no breakage fee to come out of a tracker.

autumnalcore · 05-03-2020 8:35pm

Soarer wrote: »

I've twice broken my fixed rate with AIB in recent months, and haven't been charged a breakage fee either time.

First time was back in November.
Was on a fixed rate and they announced their 5 year Green rate of 2.5%. Breakage fee was calculated at €0, so I swapped.
Then last week they announced their Green rate was dropping to 2.45%. Received confirmation today that there's €0 breakage fee again, so sent off the amendment form while ago.
I know that second one only works out at around €8.30 per month, but it's better in my pocket than theirs.

Did you have to submit a BER or summat for that,

maggots_123 · 05-03-2020 8:52pm

Soarer wrote: »

I've twice broken my fixed rate with AIB in recent months, and haven't been charged a breakage fee either time.

First time was back in November.
Was on a fixed rate and they announced their 5 year Green rate of 2.5%. Breakage fee was calculated at €0, so I swapped.
Then last week they announced their Green rate was dropping to 2.45%. Received confirmation today that there's €0 breakage fee again, so sent off the amendment form while ago.
I know that second one only works out at around €8.30 per month, but it's better in my pocket than theirs.

Yes, very similar story here! I am on the 2.85% 5 year fixed rate since last August. I seen AIB were now offering a 2.55% 5 year fixed, so I asked them to quote me a breakage fee for transferring to the better rate. The letter came out and breakage fee was 0.00! Happy days, that’s €30’ish a month savings! Best thing about transferring to a better rate with the same company is that there are no solicitors, no applications, no paperwork etc!

Soarer · 06-03-2020 10:31am

autumnalcore wrote: »

Did you have to submit a BER or summat for that,

Yeah.

Have the original one from the house. Just noticed that it's only valid until November this year, so AIB better drop another bit in the next 6 months 'cause I'm not paying for a new cert! :P

aomh · 06-03-2020 11:02am

maggots_123 wrote:

Yes, very similar story here! I am on the 2.85% 5 year fixed rate since last August. I seen AIB were now offering a 2.55% 5 year fixed, so I asked them to quote me a breakage fee for transferring to the better rate. The letter came out and breakage fee was 0.00! Happy days, thatâ€™s â‚¬30â€™ish a month savings! Best thing about transferring to a better rate with the same company is that there are no solicitors, no applications, no paperwork etc!

Jesus, I've been quoted â‚¬1900 to change my fixed rate with the same bank, UB

Millem · 07-03-2020 7:45am

I have had 2 phone calls from AIB this week telling me they don’t want to lose my business and will I fix with them at 2.55%.

I have done the sums and told them if they can get it all sorted before 1st April I will consider it.
Ulster bank or maybe it is just the person we are dealing with is very disorganised at best and unbelievably slow.

I have to pay a breakage fee....which I presume is now out of date and legal fees and higher mortgage payment for April now at this stage....the savings gap on switching banks is diminishing.

Has anyone managed to get the green rare with AIB 2.45% with no BER cert? AIB told me they have put in exceptions but they were turned down.

mrcheez · 25-03-2020 10:08am

Has anyone found the current Covid-19 restrictions have made changing mortage provider problematic (such as getting valuations done etc) ?

Millem · 25-03-2020 10:10am

I just refixed with AIB 5 years @ 2.55%.
Ulster bank were far too painful and slow to deal with and every delayed month was cost me almost €300!

purple hands · 25-03-2020 10:35am

Is there a quick and straightforward way to get a quote for breakage fee from AIB? Imagine they're up the walls at the moment anyway

Millem · 25-03-2020 11:40am

purple hands wrote: »

Is there a quick and straightforward way to get a quote for breakage fee from AIB? Imagine they're up the walls at the moment anyway

Ours was going really quickly....then the coronavirus hit and our breakage fee ended up being out of date!
Anyway in fairness to them they sorted it very quick....got the forms to sign last night by email at 7pm and scanned them back and at 7am this morning got a reply.

Ask them to waive your breakage fee....that’s what we did plus we didn’t have to pay legal fees.
Otherwise we would of gone to Ulster @ 2.2% as painful as they are to deal with!

mrcheez · 25-03-2020 11:58am

I love how my questions always ignite this thread again... though the question I asked never gets answered

ftm2008 · 25-03-2020 12:31pm

mrcheez wrote: »

I love how my questions always ignite this thread again... though the question I asked never gets answered

I rang a valuer for Aib as I wanted to fix on 2.5% currently on 3.15%
He said he could do it but in the current climate it is an unknown if a bank will take a valuation right now so
I need to talk to the back

Maybe tho a deep recession could bring interest rates down alot more .. or maybe it could go the other way ..

johnfás · 25-03-2020 1:14pm

ftm2008 wrote: »

I rang a valuer for Aib as I wanted to fix on 2.5% currently on 3.15%
He said he could do it but in the current climate it is an unknown if a bank will take a valuation right now so
I need to talk to the back

Maybe tho a deep recession could bring interest rates down alot more .. or maybe it could go the other way ..

Base rates are already negative. The interest rate is pretty much solely lenders margin these days. Can’t see them going up any time soon but the only reason they’ll come down further is a reduction in margin.

Yourmama · 23-04-2020 7:42am

Anyone in process to switch provider these days? Fix with BOI ends mid June and I wouldn't mind to switch, but getting all the paperwork might be tricky I suppose

TakeTheVeil · 23-04-2020 8:57am

mrcheez wrote: »

Has anyone found the current Covid-19 restrictions have made changing mortage provider problematic (such as getting valuations done etc) ?

Ive had a valuation cancelled as they are not deemed essential. Hoping to return to normal in next two weeks.

NickSantigo · 28-05-2020 10:23am

Very interesting thread

I have 3 years left on a 5 year fixed with BOI at 3 %. Our LTV is around 60%.
We are thinking of getting an extension done.
UB are offering a great deal for us at the moment (2.2%).

I was wondering would BOI charge us a breakage fee if we topped up our mortgage andstayed with them and went into another fixed term with them or would we be better off breaking with them and going with UB?

Update:
I called BOI and they quoted my breakage fee at over 4,700

Looks like I won't be moving soon

3DataModem · 28-05-2020 11:14am

sternn wrote: »

I was speaking to the bank today, and I have now moved my mortgage from the 3.2% fixed rate (with still around 1 year to go on the fixed rate)

So I'm now on a new 2 year fixed rate term for my mortgage but at 2.9%.

They're happy to see you commit for 2 years to fix, even at a lower rate.

That suggests
1. They think you are likely to switch, so happy to lock you in
2. They think interest rates will fall further.

There are plenty of examples of people having zero fee to break a fixed rate to go to a lower fixed rate but over a longer period.

Well done.

Leslie91 · 28-05-2020 12:05pm

NickSantigo wrote: »

Very interesting thread

I have 3 years left on a 5 year fixed with BOI at 3 %. Our LTV is around 60%.
We are thinking of getting an extension done.
UB are offering a great deal for us at the moment (2.2%).

I was wondering would BOI charge us a breakage fee if we topped up our mortgage andstayed with them and went into another fixed term with them or would we be better off breaking with them and going with UB?

Update:
I called BOI and they quoted my breakage fee at over 4,700
Looks like I won't be moving soon

I was the same... breakout fees outrageous. Need to wait until it ends.

chases0102 · 28-05-2020 1:07pm

Leslie91 wrote: »

I was the same... breakout fees outrageous. Need to wait until it ends.

Same - is it so high due to the fact that they have us locked in for 3 more years?

bobbyg · 28-05-2020 1:21pm

NickSantigo wrote: »

Very interesting thread

I have 3 years left on a 5 year fixed with BOI at 3 %. Our LTV is around 60%.
We are thinking of getting an extension done.
UB are offering a great deal for us at the moment (2.2%).

I was wondering would BOI charge us a breakage fee if we topped up our mortgage andstayed with them and went into another fixed term with them or would we be better off breaking with them and going with UB?

Update:
I called BOI and they quoted my breakage fee at over 4,700
Looks like I won't be moving soon

Ask them to send you out the details and the calculation in a letter don't accept a quote over the phone. I had the same issue but got a different value when I received the letter. It was a different bank but I was quoted 3k over the phone then when I received the letter it was zero. I also know a few people of have dealt with BOI, they seem to be the most difficult to deal with but I have seen them back down and change the breakage fee when someone when they threatened to switch to Ulster Bank. This was on a 400k Mortgage with 20 years left

Cyrus · 28-05-2020 1:37pm

chases0102 wrote: »

Same - is it so high due to the fact that they have us locked in for 3 more years?

there is a proscribed formula for calculating the break fee, read the threads on askaboutmoney,

same for everyone, and it depends on date you fixed , size of the mortgage and some other factors.

Cona · 28-05-2020 2:41pm

NickSantigo wrote: »

Very interesting thread

I have 3 years left on a 5 year fixed with BOI at 3 %. Our LTV is around 60%.
We are thinking of getting an extension done.
UB are offering a great deal for us at the moment (2.2%).

I was wondering would BOI charge us a breakage fee if we topped up our mortgage andstayed with them and went into another fixed term with them or would we be better off breaking with them and going with UB?

Update:
I called BOI and they quoted my breakage fee at over 4,700
Looks like I won't be moving soon

Were you planning on doing an equity release to fund the extensions? Just wondering if banks still do that?

NickSantigo · 28-05-2020 3:04pm

Cona wrote: »

Were you planning on doing an equity release to fund the extensions? Just wondering if banks still do that?

As our LTV is most likely under 60% our plan was to increase our mortgage when moving to fund the extension. From talking to BOI this morning they were willing to accommodate this but I wanted to move as I could get a much lower fixed rate elsewhere

BigAl81 · 24-07-2020 10:41am

Eek,

Just rang BOI there, 3 years left of a 5 year fixed at 3%.

I was quoted €9,248 to break ;(

I've broken out of fixed before with PTSB for zero so I wasn't expecting it to be that much ;(

He said the rate changes every day so I'll check back in now and again.

Has anyone had any luck with BOI before?

chooey · 23-01-2022 6:09pm

sorry for bringing up this thread again but I would also like to know if anyone has had any luck with BOI getting the breakout fee reduced?

tbayers · 23-01-2022 6:39pm

So im on 2.5% 5 year fixed rate with AIB taken out 2 years ago. That rate is now down to 2.15%. Will definitely be ringing them tomorrow and try and get on the lower rate.

Szero · 23-01-2022 10:20pm

For anyone switching ... Avant Money now offer 1,500 EUR Cashback until 31 March with their 1.95% fixed rate if you are switching from Ulster Bank or KBC and borrowing at least 100k. Switch has to be via a "Avant Gold" broker such as Doddl.ie who do not charge commissions.

Del007 · 23-01-2022 10:59pm

What's the going rate that a solicitor charges to change mortgages?

Geuze · 23-01-2022 11:09pm

I got two quotes last week, west of Ireland, both identical:

750 + VAT + outlays.

That's means approx 1,200 - 1,250, according to one sol.

bidiots · 24-01-2022 11:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118523215#Comment_118523215

1500 was the quote i received in the west also!

bidiots · 24-01-2022 11:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118523037#Comment_118523037

Do we have a list of brokers that do not charge by any chance? Bonkers free too i think

Geuze · 24-01-2022 12:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118524664#Comment_118524664

AAM tried to put together that list.

Geuze · 24-01-2022 12:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118524635#Comment_118524635

Send me a DM if you want the names.

Geuze · 24-01-2022 12:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118524664#Comment_118524664

https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/which-avant-money-brokers-do-not-charge-fees.220112/

Found it.

GIMP · 24-01-2022 12:06pm

On the basis of the this thread I called Ptsb, we are on a 5 year fixed at 3%. No fee for moving to another fixed rate but the rates they offer to existing customers are crap. Basically 3.1 for 2yr, 3% for 3yr and 2.95% for 5yr. So no incentive to move rate anyways#