B.O.I. mortgage - Can I switch to another banks?

GSPfan

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but I am pretty stupid when it comes to Banking.

I used a broker to get a mortgage just over a year ago and I got mine with B.O.I. I have had nothing but trouble off them for various reasons to do with drawing down money. They promised this money as part of the mortgage to renovate the house. I am still trying to get money off them and have jumped through every hoop a number of times and then when they do finally agree to send my solicitor a cheque, it took a month! One bloody month. Anyway....... I hate them!

Two of my friends have mortgages with EBS and they both had pleasurable experiences dealing with them.
I think I have heard somewhere before that you can transfer a mortgage but is this true?? And is it worth the hassle or money? I have just had enough of B.O.I.. I can imagine there is lots of factors involved in this process but does anyone know any basic facts on what it takes to do this.?

Thanks.

Toots

Firstly you'd have to get mortgage approval somewhere else, also your 'loan to value' will be a factor.

Are you fixed or variable with BOI? If it's fixed you may be charged a breakage fee for leaving during the fixed period, so it might be worth staying with them for the minute. You'll also have legal fees.

And you'll need to look at rates, make sure any new rates you're being offered are the same or better than what you're on right now, otherwise it might not be worth moving. Personally, if it were just a case of being unhappy with the service, I'd probably stay where I was for a while. It can be a pain to switch. If it were my current account though, I'd move it.

chris85

id imagine due to only getting your mortgage a year ago i would imagine your loan to value ratio would not be acceptable for a switch unless you paid a hefty deposit when you got your current mortgage

GSPfan

Thanks for the replies.

Well I'm a year into a loan of 220,000 (paid 20,000 deposit). So I've probably only paid 9,500 off it in monthly installments.
Now if you factor in the interest over 35 years it comes to 330,000 or thereabouts and its variable. (I had no clue about mortgages a year ago, I still don't but I'm trying.)

9,500 of 220,000 is about 4.3%.
29,500 of 240,000 is about 12%.
9,500 of 330,000 is about 2.8%.
29,500 of 350,000 is about 8.5%.

Not sure if any of those figures are any help. I don't know if the deposit or interest is factored in when calculating these things.
I was happy to just let a broker do it all for me a year ago but now I wish I had more of an idea what I got myself in for.

Dempo1

Your in a sticky situation as its extremely difficult to change mortgage providers at the moment, indeed most banks are not taking on new business, in addition you have essentially paid nothing off your mortgage apart from a very very small amount of Interest.

Apart from the lack of lending at the moment, you will have to go through the entire process again with little or no guarantee. Whilst its unlikely you have been hit with dreaded negative equity, there is a real possibility a new mortgage provider would not value your property to the level you borrowed so this will be the first of many hurdles.

One final point, you deposit seems quite low and you may have to deal with the possibility of offering a new deposit as i believe you previous deposit might be absorbed if negative equity does affect your property value.

GSPfan

Thanks.

I'm actually still quite lucky with the valued market price. The house was a piece of Poo when I bought it and I've spent a year gutting it and rebuilding with Extension etc....
Got it valued there a month or two ago and it was an optimistic 230,000. So not too bad but I know what you mean about the banks and all. And prices are falling and no one is buying so as it stands today I'm snookered. I'm trying to school myself on this stuff for the day I CAN transfer away from BOI.

Dempo1

GSPfan wrote: »

Thanks.

I'm actually still quite lucky with the valued market price. The house was a piece of Poo when I bought it and I've spent a year gutting it and rebuilding with Extension etc....
Got it valued there a month or two ago and it was an optimistic 230,000. So not too bad but I know what you mean about the banks and all. And prices are falling and no one is buying so as it stands today I'm snookered. I'm trying to school myself on this stuff for the day I CAN transfer away from BOI.

Yes its a real mess out there and your timing is unfortunate. I have a neighbor who built a fabulous 4 bed with the very best of fittings, enormous too. He has just knocked €80k of the asking price to sell but no one is biting.

Mine is a little more humble, 250 year old cottage renovation bought for €52k 10 years ago, whilst lots done with extensions, new roof etc, i could not give it away at the moment!

chris85

you may have repaid €9500 but realistically only €1000 may have been paid off the capital of the loan and the rest on interest which is common for early stage of the mortgage so your mortgage is probably close to what you drew down.

You basically still owe more or less the €220k at this point and the property is valued at €230 you say so this aint good for switching.

The loan to value ratio would need to be about 80% so the max you could get on a switching mortgage would be about €184k which would not be enough to clear mortgage outstanding with BOI.