cost of switching your mortgage to another bank ?

SpannerMonkey

hi all . im thinking of switching my mortgage as im currently with Bank of ireland and their variable rate is 4.3% and they show no signs of dropping . does anyone know how much does it cost and whats involved in switching ?

would it be worth my while going in to the bank and trying to get then to drop our rate ? surely they would rather drop it and keep the mortgage with them rather than lose the business or am i just kidding myself ?

Tefral

Its about €1500-2k+vat. I think it depends on the solicitor really.

KBC actually give you 2k towards your solicitors fees too..

spuddy

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

hi all . im thinking of switching my mortgage as im currently with Bank of ireland and their variable rate is 4.3% and they show no signs of dropping . does anyone know how much does it cost and whats involved in switching ?

would it be worth my while going in to the bank and trying to get then to drop our rate ? surely they would rather drop it and keep the mortgage with them rather than lose the business or am i just kidding myself ?

It's definitely worth a phone call to your existing bank, they can only say no. If they'll deal, it'll certainly save you effort.

I recently changed provider, the process took two months from start to finish. The only costs involved are for the solicitor and the property valuation. Some providers will give a contribution towards these, but as you know it's the rate that counts, not the perks.

You'll need a day of your time to visit the solicitor plus the inevitable chasing up to ensure it all goes to plan. One tip, the month you change over, make sure your existing DD is cancelled or you may end up with a cash flow problem. Good luck!

Billydoc

My fees were over €900 all in for switching my mortgage. Ulster Bank gave me €1500 for switching!

g0g

I've now switched twice since the start of last year and it's definitely worth the effort, plus both times the bonus has easily covered legal fees. Went from KBC 4-point-something% to PTSB 3.7% and now to AIB 3.1%. Think PTSB gave us € 1,500-€ 2,000 and AIB now giving us € 2,000. Some of the banks have Ts&Cs that force you to stay with them X years after switching if you want to keep the bonus, but it wasn't there for either of our switches. As a previous posted said, the main things are (1) legal costs, (2) valuation which is relatively cheap and then (3) the hassle of putting all that paperwork together for the bank. We didn't bother switching life cover and just kept the same original policy throughout.

One thing to note as I posted on another thread is that I think mortgages are typically given out in whole years (e.g. 25/26/27 years etc) rather than involving months (e.g. 25 years 6 months). Reason this is important is for your life policy. So if your current mortgage has 24 years 6 months left on it, the new one should be 24 years, because your current life policy (unless you want to get a fresh one) wouldn't cover you to go for 25.

Also, FWIW, both times I switched I first called the existing provider and there was absolutely nothing either could/would do to re-negotiate. I get the impression banks would prefer just lose a low percentage of switchers that are prepared to make the effort rather than be relaxed about reducing rates anytime someone asks.

Heisenberg1

g0g wrote: »

I've now switched twice since the start of last year and it's definitely worth the effort, plus both times the bonus has easily covered legal fees. Went from KBC 4-point-something% to PTSB 3.7% and now to AIB 3.1%. Think PTSB gave us € 1,500-€ 2,000 and AIB now giving us € 2,000. Some of the banks have Ts&Cs that force you to stay with them X years after switching if you want to keep the bonus, but it wasn't there for either of our switches. As a previous posted said, the main things are (1) legal costs, (2) valuation which is relatively cheap and then (3) the hassle of putting all that paperwork together for the bank. We didn't bother switching life cover and just kept the same original policy throughout.

One thing to note as I posted on another thread is that I think mortgages are typically given out in whole years (e.g. 25/26/27 years etc) rather than involving months (e.g. 25 years 6 months). Reason this is important is for your life policy. So if your current mortgage has 24 years 6 months left on it, the new one should be 24 years, because your current life policy (unless you want to get a fresh one) wouldn't cover you to go for 25.

Also, FWIW, both times I switched I first called the existing provider and there was absolutely nothing either could/would do to re-negotiate. I get the impression banks would prefer just lose a low percentage of switchers that are prepared to make the effort rather than be relaxed about reducing rates anytime someone asks.

Did PTSB penalise you in any as you switch soon after to AIB?

g0g

Absolutely not. Well there might be a tiny admin fee closing the previous mortgage, but certainly no fine and no talk whatsoever about recovering their bonus. I've just completed the switch away from PTSB in the past month and I had moved to them around March/April of last year. Obviously check yourself on whatever offer they currently have that they haven't added any new conditions about how long you need to stay.

Trish56

SpannerMonkey,
While BOI charge 4.50% variable rate which I think is awful especially for people in negative equity they do offer very attractive fixed rate mortgages so I would enquire about these before making a decision about moving.

If you decide to switch then both AIB/Haven and KBC are offering the best rates and 2k to switch. In my opinion I would go with AIB/Haven as they treat their existing customers the same as their new customers regarding rates.

As regards fees to switch I think 1k should cover legal leaving you with 1k left over so shop around for a good Solicitor