Government Funds Local Authority Housing Scheme

Mark Henderson · 21-03-2018 12:10pm

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Very easy to start off in a low paid job, get the mortgage then suddenly find a much higher income job.

This country is truly ****ed.

True but that's what happens when we keep voting in the same people election after election.

wowwee123 · 22-03-2018 5:38pm

Hi All,

I'm a little confused so if someone can clarify that would be great,
So as a couple we earn just under the 75k mark.
We were told we would need to get 2 rejections letter for the amount we are looking to apply for with the rebuilding homeloan.
We ideally would like a mortgage of €280k for Dublin but 2 banks we have applied for will only let us apply for 3.5 times our combined wages (as these are the rules)
This leaves us with €255k. So how does one apply for up to €320k if the banks will not even entertain you for more than 3.5 times your wage?

Are there ways around this?

Also we sent off the part to the revenue to sign off weeks ago but still waiting on them to stamp and send back. Has anyone been delayed by this?
Thanks

voodosheeb · 22-03-2018 5:54pm

theres a calculator on the rebuilding ireland home loan site, but it isn't accurate, so give them a call and they'll be able to tell you/email you the details , but if you make just under 75k then I say you'll get 280k if not more

SNNUS · 24-03-2018 12:49pm

Anyone know how much the MPI is ?

Grocery_bag · 25-03-2018 10:43am

Has anyone got approval yet ? I was told you need to be very lucky to get more than 140,000 euros

ad1234 · 25-03-2018 11:20am

Grocery_bag wrote: »

Has anyone got approval yet ? I was told you need to be very lucky to get more than 140,000 euros

Who told you that? Was that in relation to your situation alone? What did they Base it on?
We're at week 6 now still radio silence.

SNNUS · 25-03-2018 11:25am

Grocery_bag wrote: »

Has anyone got approval yet ? I was told you need to be very lucky to get more than 140,000 euros

I'm sure every case is different.. 7 weeks in now and not a peep!

-jellybelly- · 25-03-2018 8:23pm

SNNUS wrote: »

Anyone know how much the MPI is ?

My understanding is it is near 0.0057% of the outstanding balance. That means it starts out expensive but gets cheaper as you clear the mortgage

robbo25 · 25-03-2018 9:18pm

i got a call after 2 weeks to query something on the form, that was two weeks ago and haven't heard back yet....

stryker mcqueen · 25-03-2018 9:29pm

I know of someone who got offered just over 200k , 1 income household with a couple of kids , went into city council in person with all documents in order and got offered it there and then * I found this bit hard to believe personally but apparently this was the case ...... The offer was over 5 times the salary .....so going in face to face seems to be the way to go

SNNUS · 25-03-2018 9:39pm

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

I know of someone who got offered just over 200k , 1 income household with a couple of kids , went into city council in person with all documents in order and got offered it there and then * I found this bit hard to believe personally but apparently this was the case ...... The offer was over 5 times the salary .....so going in face to face seems to be the way to go

No way that happened, maybe they advised him that is approx what he can get but all applications need to be sent to the underwriters etc...

stryker mcqueen · 25-03-2018 9:56pm

SNNUS wrote: »

No way that happened, maybe they advised him that is approx what he can get but all applications need to be sent to the underwriters etc...

That's what I said , I presume wires have been crossed .

I would imagine they were given a figure as the max they could be approved for , pending approval from underwriting

Lolle06 · 26-03-2018 8:19am

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

I know of someone who got offered just over 200k , 1 income household with a couple of kids , went into city council in person with all documents in order and got offered it there and then * I found this bit hard to believe personally but apparently this was the case ...... The offer was over 5 times the salary .....so going in face to face seems to be the way to go

Did he get the loan offer then and there in writing? I find that hard to believe too, as the County council can’t approve a house purchasing loan themselves. The application goes through the underwriting process at the housing agency and then back to the county council. This process takes several weeks/ months! The guy probably had a personal meeting and got a loan amount he „possibly could get“, briefly calculated by them and based on the provided pay slips/ outgoings. They do not give that in writing though - until the application get’s fully approved - though there is still no guarantee the agency will do that. Maybe he misunderstood?

I forgot to add: on the old purchase - or annuity - loan scheme, you‘d usually got invited to a personal meeting. Just like the banks do, they wanted to meet the applicant in person before they‘d forward the application to the agency for further approval. At this meeting they talked through your figures and gave you an idea if you‘d have a chance to get the loan amount or not. If not, you‘d get a letter shortly after. The meeting usually took place 4- 6 weeks after you sent in the application. But I have no idea if that is still that way for the Rebuilding Ireland loan scheme though.

stryker mcqueen · 26-03-2018 9:16am

Lolle06 wrote: »

Did he get the loan offer then and there in writing? I find that hard to believe too, as the County council can’t approve a house purchasing loan themselves. The application goes through the underwriting process at the housing agency and then back to the county council. This process takes several weeks/ months! The guy probably had a personal meeting and got a loan amount he „possibly could get“, briefly calculated by them and based on the provided pay slips/ outgoings. They do not give that in writing though - until the application get’s fully approved - though there is still no guarantee the agency will do that. Maybe he misunderstood?

I forgot to add: on the old purchase - or annuity - loan scheme, you‘d usually got invited to a personal meeting. Just like the banks do, they wanted to meet the applicant in person before they‘d forward the application to the agency for further approval. At this meeting they talked through your figures and gave you an idea if you‘d have a chance to get the loan amount or not. If not, you‘d get a letter shortly after. The meeting usually took place 4- 6 weeks after you sent in the application. But I have no idea if that is still that way for the Rebuilding Ireland loan scheme though.

See above post , I don't believe it either , this is recycled info I'm getting so presume they were told the max amount they could be offered

izzyflusky · 26-03-2018 9:19am

Quick question. I was under the understanding that for this scheme only a 3% deposit is needed. I checked the website and it says 10%. Which one is it?

stryker mcqueen · 26-03-2018 9:25am

izzyflusky wrote: »

Quick question. I was under the understanding that for this scheme only a 3% deposit is needed. I checked the website and it says 10%. Which one is it?

always been 10%

izzyflusky · 26-03-2018 10:55am

stryker mcqueen wrote: »

always been 10%

So the only difference is the interest rate and the fact that they might lend you a higher amount?

jimmyendless · 26-03-2018 10:56am

izzyflusky wrote: »

So the only difference is the interest rate and the fact that they might lend you a higher amount?

Ya, not confined to the 3.5 times salary restriction.

Bargain_Hound · 26-03-2018 11:00am

Received my anticipated rejection letter. Expected it due to small salary increase right before I applied pushing me just over the line. Originally it was stated on the website the salary caps apply for the 2017 earning year. Can't find a mention of it now :P

Lolle06 · 26-03-2018 12:47pm

izzyflusky wrote: »

Quick question. I was under the understanding that for this scheme only a 3% deposit is needed. I checked the website and it says 10%. Which one is it?

No, under the old Annuity loan scheme a 3% deposit was needed. That one had a variable interest rate though and the loan amounts were lower.
The new RI loan scheme requires a 10% deposit, but has a higher loan amount (especially in Dublin, Cork & Galway) and a fixed interest rate for the loan duration.

Lolle06 · 26-03-2018 12:59pm

jimmyendless wrote: »

Ya, not confined to the 3.5 times salary restriction.

The old variable interest rate loan scheme was stress-tested. Just like the banks, they would refuse any application if the monthly repayment exceeded 33- 35% of the household income (minus other loan repayments/ maintenance payments etc.).

The new loan scheme has a set interest rate, therefore the stress-test against rising interest rates is redundant.

Peanut99 · 28-03-2018 1:20pm

Has anybody here had their application approved yet?

Or does anyone know of anyone who has actually gotten approval for the RI home loan yet?

SNNUS · 28-03-2018 1:27pm

Peanut99 wrote: »

Has anybody here had their application approved yet?

Or does anyone know of anyone who has actually gotten approval for the RI home loan yet?

Nope.. think it's 4-6 months rather than 4-6 weeks!!

wowwee123 · 28-03-2018 4:40pm

Hi guys, I'm finding it really really hard to get rejection letters for the amount we want.

So I was on to the homeloan team and they said you must have 2 x rejection letters for the amount that you are looking for from CC.
Our combined wages x 3.5 times is 255k roughly but we are looking for about 285k.
BOI, UB - will ONLY allow me to apply for 255k
I think KBC said they will consider sending through an application for 285k but i'm struggling to find another bank to get a rejection of €285k

Has anyone got any advice at all?

izzyflusky · 28-03-2018 9:06pm

Quick question. I have friends thinking about applying as they have just been rejected by the bank.
Their basic salary is below 75k but if a monthly bonus is added to it they go above the rate by about 2k a year. Would they qualify? It is not a guaranteed bonus but he has been getting it for the past couple of years at least without fail.

robbo25 · 28-03-2018 9:25pm

wowwee123 wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm finding it really really hard to get rejection letters for the amount we want.

So I was on to the homeloan team and they said you must have 2 x rejection letters for the amount that you are looking for from CC.
Our combined wages x 3.5 times is 255k roughly but we are looking for about 285k.
BOI, UB - will ONLY allow me to apply for 255k
I think KBC said they will consider sending through an application for 285k but i'm struggling to find another bank to get a rejection of €285k

Has anyone got any advice at all?

Could you apply to them and use them as insufficient offers? My 2 offers would not get us a one bed apartment in our area. Plus they were dated last year. Didn't notice when I handed it in that they had to be dated within last 4 weeks. They added this requirement in later on. But got a call from them 2 weeks ago and he said everything was in order.... Also someone said a few posts back that you could use the offers you can get from the bank's websites.

Ray Rays · 28-03-2018 9:44pm

Peanut99 wrote: »

Has anybody here had their application approved yet?

Or does anyone know of anyone who has actually gotten approval for the RI home loan yet?

Got word yesterday that we were approved for €279,000 just waiting for the letter now...just in the nick of time we took a gamble on a new build and paid a booking deposit signing contracts tomorrow..the relief...also Fingal County Council very helpful...best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back!!!

Ray Rays · 28-03-2018 9:48pm

robbo25 wrote: »

Could you apply to them and use them as insufficient offers? My 2 offers would not get us a one bed apartment in our area. Plus they were dated last year. Didn't notice when I handed it in that they had to be dated within last 4 weeks. They added this requirement in later on. But got a call from them 2 weeks ago and he said everything was in order.... Also someone said a few posts back that you could use the offers you can get from the bank's websites.

Try ringing BOI tell them your looking for approval for property value of €320,000, ask them to send out letter, get the advisors name and keep calling them until they send it that’s what I did...also try Pepper Money and ask for the same amount you’ll have to provide pay slips etc but should work

robbo25 · 28-03-2018 10:00pm

Ray Rays wrote: »

Got word yesterday that we were approved for €279,000 just waiting for the letter now...just in the nick of time we took a gamble on a new build and paid a booking deposit signing contracts tomorrow..the relief...also Fingal County Council very helpful...best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back!!!

Ah brilliant. Can I ask did they phone or email to let you know? And how long did it take?

Peanut99 · 28-03-2018 10:04pm

Ray Rays wrote: »

Got word yesterday that we were approved for €279,000 just waiting for the letter now...just in the nick of time we took a gamble on a new build and paid a booking deposit signing contracts tomorrow..the relief...also Fingal County Council very helpful...best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back!!!

Great news, congrats! Do you mind if I ask how long it took from when you submitted your application to hearing you were approved?

Ray Rays · 28-03-2018 10:05pm

robbo25 wrote: »

Ah brilliant. Can I ask did they phone or email to let you know? And how long did it take?

I rang them, and I think I put in the application on the 8th Feb...

Ray Rays · 28-03-2018 10:08pm

Peanut99 wrote: »

Great news, congrats! Do you mind if I ask how long it took from when you submitted your application to hearing you were approved?

Thanks Submitted 8th Feb and heard back yesterday

robbo25 · 28-03-2018 10:11pm

Ray Rays wrote: »

I rang them, and I think I put in the application on the 8th Feb...

Thank you. I handed mine about 2 weeks after you. Congrats and good luck in your new house.

SNNUS · 29-03-2018 11:16am

Ray Rays wrote: »

Got word yesterday that we were approved for €279,000 just waiting for the letter now...just in the nick of time we took a gamble on a new build and paid a booking deposit signing contracts tomorrow..the relief...also Fingal County Council very helpful...best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back!!!

Congrats! Glad to see some motion on it now!! , was it roughly what you were looking for or about 10% less as some people have stated?

Ray Rays · 29-03-2018 8:57pm

SNNUS wrote: »

Congrats! Glad to see some motion on it now!! , was it roughly what you were looking for or about 10% less as some people have stated?

Thanks...exactly what we thought we would get and over what we needed.

bush · 29-03-2018 10:33pm

Ray Rays wrote: »

Thanks...exactly what we thought we would get and over what we needed.

Did you get over 3.5 your salary? What kind of rejection letters did you have?

wowwee123 · 30-03-2018 9:22am

Hi,

Has anyone had any delays getting the part of the application for revenue signed off? I sent off this about 5 weeks ago in the post and nothing.
Did people go into the tax office to get it signed?
I sent mine to ashtown..

ad1234 · 30-03-2018 10:02am

wowwee123 wrote: »

Hi,

Has anyone had any delays getting the part of the application for revenue signed off? I sent off this about 5 weeks ago in the post and nothing.
Did people go into the tax office to get it signed?
I sent mine to ashtown..

I went in to get it stamped in person in dublin and when I was there there was a lady in front of me who was missing some bit of info and said to the lady ah sure I'll post it when I get home. The lady said it's about a 6 week turn around so if she can get hold of her info and do it now it might be in her interest.
I'd imagine that timeframe might be relevant to you too....

wowwee123 · 30-03-2018 10:37am

Thanks ad1234,

what office in Dublin did you go in to?

Is it a central office you call in to.

They don't make these things easy sure they don't..

SNNUS · 30-03-2018 11:15am

wowwee123 wrote: »

Hi,

Has anyone had any delays getting the part of the application for revenue signed off? I sent off this about 5 weeks ago in the post and nothing.
Did people go into the tax office to get it signed?
I sent mine to ashtown..

Get it done in person in the tax office.

ad1234 · 30-03-2018 11:19am

wowwee123 wrote: »

Thanks ad1234,

what office in Dublin did you go in to?

Is it a central office you call in to.

They don't make these things easy sure they don't..

Yeah the one on cathedral st. Just off o connell st.

B00MSTICK · 30-03-2018 3:41pm

bush wrote: »

Ray Rays wrote:

Got word yesterday that we were approved for €279,000 just waiting for the letter now...just in the nick of time we took a gamble on a new build and paid a booking deposit signing contracts tomorrow..the relief...also Fingal County Council very helpful...best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back!!!

Did you get over 3.5 your salary? What kind of rejection letters did you have?

Ray Rays wrote:

Thanks...exactly what we thought we would get and over what we needed.

Assuming the max income was 75k for a couple, 3.5 x that amount would be €262.5k (but he got 270k - approximately 3.7 times)

As someone who is the sole earner in married couple I'm not sure how I feel about this.
Our income is within the limit of the scheme but honestly I didn't think we would be approved - I assumed this scheme was for people who were really struggling to get a house/mortgage as despite decent management of their finances they couldn't save enough.

I haven't read Ray Rays previous posts or what his situation is like but it seems grossly unfair for someone who must be able to afford rent and a decent sized mortgage to be given one at a preferential rate? And above what they actually need?

So are people applying for amounts they know they wont get approved on and then just using that to get on a lower rate mortgage?
Is this a case of me being a dummy for not abusing the system?

No offence intended here (just using Ray Rays as a recent example) but if you are being approved for 279k you surely must have a sizeable income and enough to save for a deposit and mortgage like the rest of us? Am I missing something?

stryker mcqueen · 30-03-2018 3:57pm

wowwee123 wrote: »

Hi,

Has anyone had any delays getting the part of the application for revenue signed off? I sent off this about 5 weeks ago in the post and nothing.
Did people go into the tax office to get it signed?
I sent mine to ashtown..

I sent mine to revenue commissioner in tallaght with a stamped addressed envelope and got it back in 3 days

Lolle06 · 30-03-2018 8:52pm

B00MSTICK wrote: »

Assuming the max income was 75k for a couple, 3.5 x that amount would be €262.5k (but he got 270k - approximately 3.7 times)

As someone who is the sole earner in married couple I'm not sure how I feel about this.
Our income is within the limit of the scheme but honestly I didn't think we would be approved - I assumed this scheme was for people who were really struggling to get a house/mortgage as despite decent management of their finances they couldn't save enough.

I haven't read Ray Rays previous posts or what his situation is like but it seems grossly unfair for someone who must be able to afford rent and a decent sized mortgage to be given one at a preferential rate? And above what they actually need?

So are people applying for amounts they know they wont get approved on and then just using that to get on a lower rate mortgage?
Is this a case of me being a dummy for not abusing the system?

No offence intended here (just using Ray Rays as a recent example) but if you are being approved for 279k you surely must have a sizeable income and enough to save for a deposit and mortgage like the rest of us? Am I missing something?

I don’t think the 3.5x income rule applies, if you can show that you are comfortably capable of paying your monthly mortgage rate - and b/c it’s a set interest rate, the monthly costs won’t rise in the future.

Sure, it would be nice if every mortgage holder could avail of a set interest rate of 2% - after all, that‘s the golden bonus of this scheme, since the former scheme only offered the variable market rate!

Sometimes it‘s next to impossible to get a mortgage from a bank - even though you have a reasonable good income, no debt, good credit report, proof of savings and pay rent, etc. - if you have a few children, you’d know what I mean.

I don’t think ppl who are within the higher income limit are „abusing“ the system - the government will make sure, all figures stack up - and they certainly take enough time for each application, to check it not only once or twice, but three times!

And how much they would lend you depends not only on your location, I guess it would also depend on the average house price.
Because as far as I know, the house needs to be habitable and structurally sound (checked by the CoCo engineer) - so a renovation project would be out of the question.

But at the end of the day, it’s up to yourself to apply for this scheme if you meet the criteria!

Bobbilly · 01-04-2018 1:34pm

I'm very tempted by this and have read pretty much every post in this thread after hearing about it only recently.

I've a few questions to double check if anyone could help.

1) Can you definitely use online mortgage calculators? I'd prefer not to deal with meetings with banks etc and potentially damage my credit rating (?). If so, could someone pass on what calculators you used?

2) If you do get accepted with this scheme, how long do you have to accept or reject the offer?

3) Someone mentoined you can also use the help to buy scheme with this. Is this confirmed? From what I know this is 5% back from the purchase price of the property so it's a decent sum.

This suits me down to the ground. I'm under 50k, looking for an apartment near the city in a place that doesn't have any apartments for 3.5 times my salary.

Thanks

Bobbilly · 01-04-2018 1:40pm

Oh, one more thing since the site doesn't go in to a whole lot of detail.

Would there be penalties for paying back this mortgage in under the agreed time?

SNNUS · 01-04-2018 4:37pm

All the answers should be here..

http://rebuildingirelandhomeloan.ie/faq/

Peanut99 · 01-04-2018 11:14pm

Bobbilly wrote: »

I'm very tempted by this and have read pretty much every post in this thread after hearing about it only recently.

I've a few questions to double check if anyone could help.

1) Can you definitely use online mortgage calculators? I'd prefer not to deal with meetings with banks etc and potentially damage my credit rating (?). If so, could someone pass on what calculators you used?

2) If you do get accepted with this scheme, how long do you have to accept or reject the offer?

3) Someone mentoined you can also use the help to buy scheme with this. Is this confirmed? From what I know this is 5% back from the purchase price of the property so it's a decent sum.

This suits me down to the ground. I'm under 50k, looking for an apartment near the city in a place that doesn't have any apartments for 3.5 times my salary.

Thanks

My Local Authority insisted that they needed letters from banks and that they would not accept the online mortgage calculators.

Can you tell me how applying to the banks for a mortgage affects a persons credit rating?

SNNUS · 02-04-2018 7:00am

Your credit history is not affected by applying, credit history is your history of repaying loans, Banks only note the loans that have been approved and funds transferred.

The_Conductor · 02-04-2018 8:48am

SNNUS wrote: »

Your credit history is not affected by applying, credit history is your history of repaying loans, Banks only note the loans that have been approved and funds transferred.

Not entirely accurate.
Anytime you apply for a loan, a credit card, a credit union loan- or borrowing in general- it is now standard that the prospective lender will query your credit score with the ICB (Irish Credit Bureau). Any loan over three months in arrears- results in an automatic return from the ICB of a score of 50- which is an automatic failure for loan purposes with any lender.

As you apply for mortgages and get refused for them- the query the lender makes to the ICB- is recorded on your record- under a 'Historical Enquiries made by Financial Institutions ('Footprints')' section. And when you apply for any loan- the prospective lender (including the local authorities)- receive your footprints from the previous 12 months- in addition to your ICB score.

You are entitled to view your ICB score- and have the ICB contact any historic errors if they contain any inaccuracies as they pertain to your record.

Any prospective lender (including a local authority lender) gets a copy of your 'footprints' from the previous 12 months. Your actual score is based on your financial transactions going back over the previous 60 months (5 years) and its a rolling 5 years- so if you had a catastrophic event on your credit record 4 years and 11 months ago that has stopped you getting credit- it is wiped in a month's time. However- if you have kept a loan in arrears- you have a rolling catastrophic event- normally updated every 90 days by the lender with whom you hold the loan in default.........

As a catastrophic credit event ages- your ICB score increases- from a lowpoint of 50 (for a current delinquint loan/creditcard/creditunion loan etc) to a score of 500 for a clean record (with additional checks necessary for anyone who doesn't have an ICB record- typically showing habitual residence in Ireland, salary slips- and a statement that you have no loans of any nature and have not done in the preceding 5 years in this or any other jurisdiction).

The ICB can reference credit scores automatically within the EU- and on an adhoc basis with other jurisdictions (including the US and Australia).

The number of 'footprints' on your ICB record- *does* negatively impact on your ICB score- i.e. if you toss random requests for credit cards or other debt around the place- whether or not they are accepted or turned down- they feature on your ICB Footprints- and *do* affect your score.

It only costs 6 quid to query your ICB score- and it makes perfect sense for people to try and ensure their ICB score is accurate- mistakes do happen- and while a mistake will eventually expire (after 5 years)- it makes far more sense to get them corrected- than having a bad ICB score follow your applications like a bad smell............

Government Funds Local Authority Housing Scheme

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