Can you get a mortgage in NI with euro/ROI Salary/job?

CBear1993 · 22-09-2020 11:06am #1

Hi all, not sure if this is in the correct forum.

I'm originally from up North, been living in Dublin now for a few years with my partner.

I still have an address and a phone bill goes to my parents home up there, and all my NI resident details etc, but haven't worked there since 2017.

Can myself & my partner get a mortgage for a new build house up there with our dublin area jobs?

There isn't much info from searching on google. We are looking at moving up there next year instead of buying down here.

Do banks/mortgage lenders frown upon it or what way does it work?

Thanks in advance

kerosene · 22-09-2020 11:08am

I dont think it would be a problem. You might have to get your salary paid into your northern account but as long as you have a reliable income it shouldn't be a problem.

awec · 22-09-2020 11:09am

You would need to get a mortgage from a UK bank.

CBear1993 · 22-09-2020 11:12am

Thank you, I wasn't sure whether it was accepted.

I bank with AIB both in ROI and still have my AIB (formerly First Trust) NI account which I've had from childhood.

grayzer75 · 22-09-2020 11:15am

Yes, we did it with Ulsterbank in Newry with my wages being paid into the Ulsterbank in Dundalk.

wench · 22-09-2020 11:35am

Brexit may make banks more reluctant than they were previously.
It's already messing up existing cross-border arrangements https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/sep/21/britons-eu-uk-bank-accounts-closed-lloyds-barclays-brexit

CBear1993 · 22-09-2020 12:02pm

ok, we'll be moving up hopefully in the first 6 months of 2021 so maybe get in before there are too many changes.

I think the above article doesn't reflect accurately on NI/ROI, which is a whole different kettle of fish. The island of Ireland, regardless of people living north/south, is much different to someone having a UK bank account and living in mainland Europe eg: Portugal.

I'm sure lots of Irish citizens have NI & ROI bank accounts.

grayzer75 · 22-09-2020 12:06pm

CBear1993 wrote: »

ok, we'll be moving up hopefully in the first 6 months of 2021 so maybe get in before there are too many changes.

I think the above article doesn't reflect accurately on NI/ROI, which is a whole different kettle of fish. The island of Ireland, regardless of people living north/south, is much different to someone having a UK bank account and living in mainland Europe eg: Portugal.

I'm sure lots of Irish citizens have NI & ROI bank accounts.

I have a couple of both types with no issues.

wench · 22-09-2020 12:15pm

CBear1993 wrote: »

The island of Ireland, regardless of people living north/south, is much different to someone having a UK bank account and living in mainland Europe eg: Portugal.

I'm sure lots of Irish citizens have NI & ROI bank accounts.

From a regulatory position, the Irish border has exactly the same effect as the English Channel. If an agreement isn't made by January, we're all following different regulations, and that will cause problems.

A lot will depend on which bank you're with, how much presence they have in the EU vs UK, etc.

Until Westminster is finished trampling on existing treaties, and come up with something new, we don't know exactly how this will all shake out.

Suffice to say, it is unlikely to be as seamless as before.

CBear1993 · 22-09-2020 3:15pm

I see, it's hard to tell then if it's risky waiting until the first 6 months of 2021, or maybe getting a mortgage application in before Christmas 2020 this year might be the best option? So I can have it sitting there ready to go...

CBear1993 · 23-09-2020 8:50am

Was told by someone yesterday who has relocated from Dublin to north in last 2 years or so that you should begin to transfer your own monthly salary into your NI bank account?

And also to spend money from your NI bank account. I’ve just had it idle and don’t use it often at all. It would be a bit of a pain to get my salary in each month and transfer it to AIB NI, as all of my bills come out from my AIB ROI account. So I’ll effectively just be transferring a lot back via Revolut or TransferWise so as not to lose out on money because of the banks’ crap exchange rates and fees.

I also have a credit union account up there. I haven’t asked my employer but I’m guessing it’s the case that no employer in ROI would pay your salary into an NI bank account, I remember first moving here they told me they couldn’t do it...

If it does be questioned why am I transferring a sum in each month equal to my payslip I’ll just state that’s my salary and my employer wouldn’t pay it into an NI account? And they have an office in Belfast or something...

grayzer75 · 23-09-2020 8:59am

CBear1993 wrote: »

Was told by someone yesterday who has relocated from Dublin to north in last 2 years or so that you should begin to transfer your own monthly salary into your NI bank account?

And also to spend money from your NI bank account. I’ve just had it idle and don’t use it often at all. It would be a bit of a pain to get my salary in each month and transfer it to AIB NI, as all of my bills come out from my AIB ROI account. So I’ll effectively just be transferring a lot back via Revolut or TransferWise so as not to lose out on money because of the banks’ crap exchange rates and fees.

I also have a credit union account up there. I haven’t asked my employer but I’m guessing it’s the case that no employer in ROI would pay your salary into an NI bank account, I remember first moving here they told me they couldn’t do it...

If it does be questioned why am I transferring a sum in each month equal to my payslip I’ll just state that’s my salary and my employer wouldn’t pay it into an NI account? And they have an office in Belfast or something...

I transfer mine monthly via Ulsterbank intenational transfer (costs €6 each transaction). All I had to do was provide payslips and P60's when applying for the mortgage - it was no big deal with them when applying tbh.

CBear1993 · 23-09-2020 9:29am

Cheers.

Francie Barrett · 23-09-2020 9:39am

If you are buying a house in the North, you will have to apply for a mortgage using a UK bank. Unfortunately, very few banks will give you a mortgage in Sterling with your salary in Euro. When one of my kids had to do this recently, the only options open were Danske Bank, Santander, and Barclays. None of the Irish banks were able to help. I think they will only take into account 90% of your income as well due to the possible currency risk. Santander were the most competitive on interest rates, so I would consider them.

Francie Barrett · 23-09-2020 9:58am

CBear1993 wrote: »

Was told by someone yesterday who has relocated from Dublin to north in last 2 years or so that you should begin to transfer your own monthly salary into your NI bank account?

Not necessary. The bank will ask for payslips as proof of income. They will convert that to Sterling and take 90% of that for assessing affordability.

CBear1993 wrote: »

I also have a credit union account up there. I haven’t asked my employer but I’m guessing it’s the case that no employer in ROI would pay your salary into an NI bank account, I remember first moving here they told me they couldn’t do it...

Your employer will almost certainly not want to do this, even if they were willing, the bank would probably charge you an astronomical rate to do the fx transfer.

CBear1993 wrote: »

If it does be questioned why am I transferring a sum in each month equal to my payslip I’ll just state that’s my salary and my employer wouldn’t pay it into an NI account? And they have an office in Belfast or something...

No one will question why you are transferring your salary from ROI to the UK.

One thing I would advise that you start doing is that you start building up your Sterling savings if you are not already doing so. If you are looking to transfer Euro to Sterling, I found currencyfair.com to provide the best rates.

grayzer75 · 23-09-2020 10:14am

Francie Barrett wrote: »

If you are buying a house in the North, you will have to apply for a mortgage using a UK bank. Unfortunately, very few banks will give you a mortgage in Sterling with your salary in Euro. When one of my kids had to do this recently, the only options open were Danske Bank, Santander, and Barclays. None of the Irish banks were able to help. I think they will only take into account 90% of your income as well due to the possible currency risk. Santander were the most competitive on interest rates, so I would consider them.

I got min with Ulsterbank NI no problems and my brother-in-law got his with First Trust / AIB - both of us work in the south and get paid in euro.

CBear1993 · 23-09-2020 12:42pm

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Not necessary. The bank will ask for payslips as proof of income. They will convert that to Sterling and take 90% of that for assessing affordability.

Your employer will almost certainly not want to do this, even if they were willing, the bank would probably charge you an astronomical rate to do the fx transfer.

No one will question why you are transferring your salary from ROI to the UK.

One thing I would advise that you start doing is that you start building up your Sterling savings if you are not already doing so. If you are looking to transfer Euro to Sterling, I found currencyfair.com to provide the best rates.

Thanks very much, top man

Francie Barrett · 23-09-2020 9:23pm

grayzer75 wrote: »

I got min with Ulsterbank NI no problems and my brother-in-law got his with First Trust / AIB - both of us work in the south and get paid in euro.

You are right on UB, I forgot them.

AIB NI said they did not do mortgages for people paid in Euro (this was like 5 years ago, so perhaps things have changed).

CBear1993 · 25-09-2020 10:50am

We received an unexpected "financial gift" which has been promised from my partner's father & mother, which has dropped a bit of a bombshell! I'm not sure whether it's a persuasion to stay put rather than move 2.5 hours away!!

Means we could maybe afford the 15/20% deposit required for a house outside Dublin in meath/kildare.

However our gut instinct is telling us to stick with the plan get more value for money northbound. Plus the houses are arguably finished better in smaller developments up there, with a large garden etc, vs the 200+ house developments going up down here.

Maybe one day we'll return to her native county and self-build.

Thanks for all your help.

CBear1993 · 30-09-2020 12:17pm

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Not necessary. The bank will ask for payslips as proof of income. They will convert that to Sterling and take 90% of that for assessing affordability.

Your employer will almost certainly not want to do this, even if they were willing, the bank would probably charge you an astronomical rate to do the fx transfer.

No one will question why you are transferring your salary from ROI to the UK.

One thing I would advise that you start doing is that you start building up your Sterling savings if you are not already doing so. If you are looking to transfer Euro to Sterling, I found currencyfair.com to provide the best rates.

Did a quick check/exercise on the "big 3" foreign exchange apps out there at the minute.

Transferring a sum of about €4,000 euros to sterling on

1. Revolut
2. Currency Fair
3. Transferwise

Revolut actually came out on top, with TW 2nd and CF 3rd.
Now there isn't a big pile of difference, but still enough, I have an account with all 3.

Compared with transferring it from AIB ROI to AIB NI they're all good.

I only found out recently that I've been transferring €100 per month from my AIB ROI account directly to Credit Union in the north. Some months they were only receiving £83 sterling!!!! The same sum at the moment goes from about £89-91 on the 3 apps above.

CBear1993 · 09-10-2020 11:50am

Bit of an update, not that anyone is concerned..

Went to Santander for 85% LTV, all looked good, went on their system and for some strange reason rejected me. My credit scores through "checkmyfile" are very good on both sides of the border, still on the electoral register up there etc. So Santander gone

Progressive will accept euro salary but will drop away down to 75%LTV or something which is crap (this is according to my mortgage advisor but I might try them myself).

I was dealing with a mortgage advisor from my home area in the north, and to be honest I'm very disappointed, I wish I'd have just done it myself. What's other peoples' experiences of working with them?

I sorted everything myself down here in Dublin for the mortgage, never went near one.

I went on a recommendation of friends for this woman and she only came up with Santander, now I realise my options are limited due to the current pandemic and the euro salary hampers things, but still, one option wasn't great.

I did a quick search myself yesterday, and rang up Danske Bank. They had absolutely no problem with the euro salary, offered 85% and were happy for me to process, a very easy 45 min phone call.

Why did she not bring them to light?? Do these mortgage advisers only work with the ones they are comfortable with/have a relationship with/ get a commission from? Quite pissed off and disappointed. Haven't told her yet but feel like saying "just leave it, I'll go to danske bank and progressive myself".

Can you get a mortgage in NI with euro/ROI Salary/job?

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