Banks passing on ECB rate cuts..or not

gurramok

DeadSkin wrote: »

anyone tell me when the one before that was from the ECB.

June 6th, 2003.

http://www.ecb.int/stats/monetary/rates/html/index.en.html

Oral Slang

I've a tracker mortgage with TSB, but still haven't heard anything about whether my rate will be cut? Due to come out of my account this week, will it just come down automatically do you think?

Bass Cadet

If this happens today, will banks who have given out tracker mortgages HAVE to pass this on in full?

seamus

Yep.

Bass Cadet

seamus wrote: »

Yep.

Happy DAYS! well....at least for a while

seamus

Actually I should qualify that. I think they have a clause or two which allows them to not pass it on under extraordinary circumstances, but they would be unlikely to invoke these clauses.

Bass Cadet

seamus wrote: »

Actually I should qualify that. I think they have a clause or two which allows them to not pass it on under extraordinary circumstances, but they would be unlikely to invoke these clauses.

HBOS are bast4rds...wouldn't surprise me

jasonb

Should the .5% drop a few weeks ago also have been passed on to those of us with a Tracker Mortgage? Cos my mortgage didn't change.

And while I'm at it, I hate that the Halifax uses all these 'don't rely on the bankers' type ads, when they're the HBOS....

J.

Bass Cadet

jasonb wrote: »

Should the .5% drop a few weeks ago also have been passed on to those of us with a Tracker Mortgage? Cos my mortgage didn't change.

And while I'm at it, I hate that the Halifax uses all these 'don't rely on the bankers' type ads, when they're the HBOS....

J.

HBOS did from Nov 1st...conveniently for me as my last payment came out on October 28th :rolleyes: Meaning I paid them an extra €100 in that monthly repayment when I should have been saving it. Funny how increases happen immediately and cuts seem to take an age to kick in. Apparently they can defer implementing cuts for 30 days after the actually rate cut...don't know why but hey, they're banks, they seem to be able to do anything they want

jasonb

Permanent TSB's website says they're going to pass on the .5% drop to all existing Variable and Tracker Mortgages from the first week in November.

I've no idea why it's taking 3 weeks to pass it on, my mortgage went through this month without a reduction, but it should have the reduction next month.

It'll be interesting to see if the interest rate drop expected today will also go through next month, or the month after. I need to check the small print of my mortgage to see how long they can take before applying an interest rate drop.

J.

jasonb

Actually just found a note on PTSBs website to say the cut will go thorugh in the first week in November ( i.e., after my mortgage repayment of 3 days ago ).

Gonna check the small print on my mortgage to see how long they're allowed wait for. I know it's not a lot of money, but I'd be curious to see if there is a difference between how long they wait to put it up compared to how long they wait to drop it...

J.

Bass Cadet

jasonb wrote: »

Actually just found a note on PTSBs website to say the cut will go thorugh in the first week in November ( i.e., after my mortgage repayment of 3 days ago ).

Gonna check the small print on my mortgage to see how long they're allowed wait for. I know it's not a lot of money, but I'd be curious to see if there is a difference between how long they wait to put it up compared to how long they wait to drop it...

J.

30 days for rate cuts. Whenever they want for increases...ie immediately :mad:

dobsdave

Rates just gone down another .5%

http://www.rte.ie/business/2008/1106/ecb.html

DeadSkin

dobsdave wrote: »

Rates just gone down another .5%

http://www.rte.ie/business/2008/1106/ecb.html

Won't see it until Jan 1st, in my circumstances
Will see last month's rate cut on 1st Dec.

dobsdave

DeadSkin wrote: »

Won't see it until Jan 1st, in my circumstances
Will see last month's rate cut on 1st Dec.

Sorry to hear that, got my October reduction this month.
Hopefully this months one will follow suit for next month.

chuckles30

I was onto Ulster Bank this morning as I'm on a tracker rate and I didn't get my cut this month. Anyway they seemingly have 30 days to pass on the changes.....I did point out how convenient it was that they only discovered this when the rates came down.....the increases were passed on immediately. The Oct cut is effective Nov 1st.....so should be reflected in Dec payment.....again very convenient given that they take out the payments on the 1st. I guess I can look forward to today's cut in Jan :mad: Anyway their complaints dept is due to call me back within two days, but it could take longer as the lady told me there have been a lot of calls about this issue!!!

unclebill98

chuckles30 wrote: »

I was onto Ulster Bank this morning as I'm on a tracker rate and I didn't get my cut this month. Anyway they seemingly have 30 days to pass on the changes.....I did point out how convenient it was that they only discovered this when the rates came down.....the increases were passed on immediately. The Oct cut is effective Nov 1st.....so should be reflected in Dec payment.....again very convenient given that they take out the payments on the 1st. I guess I can look forward to today's cut in Jan :mad: Anyway their complaints dept is due to call me back within two days, but it could take longer as the lady told me there have been a lot of calls about this issue!!!

They must call back in the time frame agreed with the customer. If they don't call you there breaking there own rules on handling there customer complaints. Don't let them away with it.

jdb

ECB rate went up on 9th July - PTSB Tracker Mortgage went up on 14th July
ECB rate went down on 8th October - PTSB Tracker Mortgage goes down 7th November
ECB rate went down on 6th November - PTSB Tracker Mortgage will go down in 5th December

Go figure

DeadSkin

jdb wrote: »

ECB rate went up on 9th July - PTSB Tracker Mortgage went up on 14th July
ECB rate went down on 8th October - PTSB Tracker Mortgage goes down 7th November
ECB rate went down on 6th November - PTSB Tracker Mortgage will go down in 5th December

Go figure

The sad thing is banks are entitled to this. If you check your terms & conditions, they have 30 days to pass on any rate cut/increase.

Morrisseeee

Was talking to AIB rep yesterday:
ECB rate cut announced on Oct 8th
Effective as of the Oct 16th
Then something about 6 days to pass it on to customer.....
Then another 10 days for time-lag with regards to 'direct-debit' !!!!

Anyway my mortgage (0.6% tracker) comes out weekly, I saw the CUT on Nov 3rd !

Bo!!ixes.... :rolleyes:

Edit:
Actually, looking back tru my account, I see an old rate hike, shows up in my account on the 22nd march,
effective the next week, 26th march !!!!!

rkevin

Ulster bank tracker mortgages rates bank
I have contacted Ulster bank asking why they have not passed on the interested rate cut that the ECB did in October and they told me that on the conditions of my mortgage they have a 30day policy and that they will apply it to my next payment on the 1st of December.
I checked the conditions and it is not in my condition so I rang again and they told me to look at section 14b of the conditions but there is no section 14b
They are now looking into it and it appears that they forgot to put this section 14B on some people’s conditions so check you mortgage condition
As it stand I am entitled to the cut from the day the ECB cut rates as I have a contract with them stating that my interest rate will be the ECB rate +.8%
Anybody else have this problem with Ulster bank.

dotsman

rkevin wrote: »

Ulster bank tracker mortgages rates bank
I have contacted Ulster bank asking why they have not passed on the interested rate cut that the ECB did in October and they told me that on the conditions of my mortgage they have a 30day policy and that they will apply it to my next payment on the 1st of December.
I checked the conditions and it is not in my condition so I rang again and they told me to look at section 14b of the conditions but there is no section 14b
They are now looking into it and it appears that they forgot to put this section 14B on some people’s conditions so check you mortgage condition
As it stand I am entitled to the cut from the day the ECB cut rates as I have a contract with them stating that my interest rate will be the ECB rate +.8%
Anybody else have this problem with Ulster bank.

OK, your documentation not stating a time limit is their fault. But at the same time, there's no tracker out there that is effective from the date it is applied and the standard time limit is that it takes effect within 30 days. That being said, 30 days is a long time, and to be honest they are taking the pi$$.

There also seems to be some ambiguity as to when October's rate change took place. I know they announced it on the 8th, but it only took effect from the 15th. Most banks (as far as I know) applied it within 5 working days which is fairly standard and is the same time frame that it takes when they increase the rate as well (the 5 days is to cover the various signoffs and admin etc - changing a rate is not a simple process, believe me!)

Oral Slang

jdb wrote: »

ECB rate went up on 9th July - PTSB Tracker Mortgage went up on 14th July
ECB rate went down on 8th October - PTSB Tracker Mortgage goes down 7th November
ECB rate went down on 6th November - PTSB Tracker Mortgage will go down in 5th December
Go figure

I've a PTSB tracker mortgage. My mortgage came out of my account at midnight on the 7th/8th November without any reduction. I rang to ask why I didn't get a reduction and they said the rate was only coming into effect on the 8th, so I won't get it til next month. Does this sound right? I queried it and was told that they had 30 days to pass on the rate change to me, but according to the post above I should have got the October decrease this month.

dotsman

Oral Slang wrote: »

I've a PTSB tracker mortgage. My mortgage came out of my account at midnight on the 7th/8th November without any reduction. I rang to ask why I didn't get a reduction and they said the rate was only coming into effect on the 8th, so I won't get it til next month. Does this sound right? I queried it and was told that they had 30 days to pass on the rate change to me, but according to the post above I should have got the October decrease this month.

In most banks, interest is calculated daily. Therefore, if the rate was applied on the 7th, then it is applicable on all daily interest calculations from the next day. Your repayment on the 7th was for the previous month, therefore you will notice the reduction the following month.

unclebill98

AIB and UB .5% Oct 8th rate cut have been applied to my payments on the 1st of novmeber. Just to let you guys know.

So I will assume that the new rate cut (Nov 6th) will be effective on the 1st of Dec.

As for missing t&c, I am sure they'll wiggled out of that one somehow.

steamjetjoe

I have a variable rate mortgage with ICS. ECB rate cuts announced on the 8th of Oct, I received notification today that the .500% cut will come into effect on the 3rd of Dec. OH JOY:(

Ps. My new rate will be 5.290%. Is this a good rate or could I do alot better, I'm planning on shopping around for a better rate in early Jan 09

dotsman

steamjetjoe wrote: »

I have a variable rate mortgage with ICS. ECB rate cuts announced on the 8th of Oct, I received notification today that the .500% cut will come into effect on the 3rd of Dec. OH JOY:(

Ps. My new rate will be 5.290%. Is this a good rate or could I do alot better, I'm planning on shopping around for a better rate in early Jan 09

It's good enough in today's climate (people on trackers are the winners here, those on Fixed are really losing out, while variables are somewhere in between). I assume that the 5.290 is the APR as opposed to the standard interest rate when shopping around. Whether you can do better depends on your LTV (the amount of the loan expressed as a percentage of the value of the property).

For example, BOI offer rates from 5.1% to 5.5% depending on the APR. You also need to be careful with this as this is an incentive offer for new customers, so I don't know how long it will be before they hike you up to the rate they are giving their existing customers (5.6%).

AIB, on the other hand are offering a simple 5.1% to all customer (new and existing), regardless of LTV.

Permanent TSB seem to be screaming that they don't want any customers with their ridiculous 6.1% to 6.1%

All rates I've quoted above are the APR (the best way to compare) as opposed to the actual interest rates (which are always lower, but are not as easily comparable).

Remember, on a variable rate - the banks can change the rate whenever they want by whatever they want. From this, whatever bank may be offering the best rate today might not be the best this time next year!

Also, banks can do what ever they want with their Variable rates, but at the moment, the Irish banks are under intense pressure (from both the government and media) to pass on all ECB rate cuts in full. Foreign banks aren't under the same pressure, but may still do so for competitive reasons.

Steveirl

I have a mortgage with Ulster Bank and i rang in October regarding the ECB cut in early Oct, I was told by a member of staff in Ulster Bank that this would come into effect November 1st. Its now the 11th of November and this still has not been passed onto customers who are on a Tracker mortgage including myself. There has been a 2nd ECB cut since and now there saying the 1st rate wont come into effect until 1st of DEC

Im taking my business else were, im moving to a different bank..!! im not putting up with any more ****...!!

Drumpot

Small point, dont know if its true or not so dont attack the messenger.

I heard on radio a guy who has a first active mortgage who said that he phoned them up and they said that he wouldnt get the reduced interest rate unless he wrote in requesting the decrease. Not sure if any other lenders do this, but no harm in phoning up your mortgage provider to confirm that you dont have to do anything to get the reduction!!

dotsman

Drumpot wrote: »

Small point, dont know if its true or not so dont attack the messenger.

I heard on radio a guy who has a first active mortgage who said that he phoned them up and they said that he wouldnt get the reduced interest rate unless he wrote in requesting the decrease. Not sure if any other lenders do this, but no harm in phoning up your mortgage provider to confirm that you dont have to do anything to get the reduction!!

Well, with a tracker, you certainly don't need to request it. It is guaranteed (typically within 30 days). With a variable, the banks don't have to do anything, and can set the rate at whatever they want (the whole purpose of a variable). However, as all the main banks have told the media that they are passing it on in full, if this is true, I would certainly be running away from First Active. However, maybe the guy on the radio is a bit confused (certainly wouldn't be the first person!). Perhaps he is requesting to be put on a variable rate from a fixed rate or something.