Moving to UK - Irish Mortgage to buy UK house???

HelterSkelter

I am planning on moving to the UK in the next year. My gf lives there and we are saving for a mortgage. The thing is that from checking out UK bank web sites the APR on the mortgages seems to be in the region of 6% there compared to 3.5% here.

Do you think an Irish bank will give me a mortgage to buy a house in the UK?

Do you think it is even a good idea? Are there any pitfalls to this plan I am missing?

lomb

HelterSkelter wrote:

I am planning on moving to the UK in the next year. My gf lives there and we are saving for a mortgage. The thing is that from checking out UK bank web sites the APR on the mortgages seems to be in the region of 6% there compared to 3.5% here.

Do you think an Irish bank will give me a mortgage to buy a house in the UK?

Do you think it is even a good idea? Are there any pitfalls to this plan I am missing?

if u buy a uk house u will need a sterling mortgage. the rates on sterling are indeed 6%. in fact deposit rates there are 5% now. so 1% is the spread. it doesnt matter if an irish bank or a uk bank gives u the loan it will still be 6% and looks like its rising.....

Blackjack

An Irish Bank with operations in the UK (which most of them have) will quite possibly give you a mortgage, but at UK lending rates.
First thing to do when you get to the UK is get on the Voting register - this is how the Credit agencies in the UK trace you.

If you want to get an idea as to what's available in the UK Mortgage market, then check out the Mortgage section on moneyworld.co.uk.

Rates have been steady (base rate is 4.75) for several months, and could as easily go up as they could down, according to the last meeting of the commitee it really depends on how Inflation goes, and that largely is being affected by Oil prices and the knock on effects of the high price of Oil at the moment.

A friend of mine only today had an meeting with a Mortgage Broker in the UK, who reckons that the Fixed price mortgages are due to have some rate drops in the next month or so, which would lead me to think that they are expecting a drop in the base rate, as do many others in the UK.

boa-constrictor

If you register it as your private dwelling house you will have to get the mortgage in the UK but if you buy it as an investment property you can get a mortgage in euros from an irish bank at the lower euro interest rate.

Pitfalls are;

- exchange rate risk - you will be earning stg and will have to convert to euro to make the repayments - no telling what will happen to x rates in the future.

- there are normally some benefits attaching to registering as your PDH which you wont qualify for, such as lower stamp duty and possibly interest relief on the borrowings, but I dont know the ins and outs of the UK's tax rules.

- adminstrative expenses - the cost and hassle of sending funds back to Ireland each month to meet the direct debit for the mortgage will be a pain. If your flush you could just transfer a few grand 2 or 3 times a year into a current account here and keep an eye on it through internet banking to make sure its sufficiently in credit.



If you told the bank you were moving to the UK, they likely wouldn't give you the mortgage. You could of course purchase as an investment property and then decide to move to the UK.

HelterSkelter

Blackjack wrote:

If you want to get an idea as to what's available in the UK Mortgage market, then check out the Mortgage section on moneyworld.co.uk.
...

Thanks for that, very useful link.

Another question, will a UK bank expect me to be living there for a certain period of time before they give me a mortgage? Will I need to build up a credit history there first? Or will my Irish Pay slips, bank statements, etc suffice? I intend to move there in about 1 year and will want to apply for a mortage at that time. I am working and saving for the deposit while I live in Ireland.

Thanks again for the help.

Blackjack

HelterSkelter wrote:

Thanks for that, very useful link.

Another question, will a UK bank expect me to be living there for a certain period of time before they give me a mortgage? Will I need to build up a credit history there first? Or will my Irish Pay slips, bank statements, etc suffice? I intend to move there in about 1 year and will want to apply for a mortage at that time. I am working and saving for the deposit while I live in Ireland.

Thanks again for the help.

AFAIK, it depends on the organisation's lending policy itself, although I can't see any reason as to why they would refuse you for not being in the country for a while previously. You never know though, so you should probably start contacting the lenders ahead to see how far they are prepared to go.

grumpytrousers

Blackjack wrote:

AFAIK, it depends on the organisation's lending policy itself, although I can't see any reason as to why they would refuse you for not being in the country for a while previously. You never know though, so you should probably start contacting the lenders ahead to see how far they are prepared to go.

Not being smart, but would YOU lend X hundred thousand to somebody if you didn't know what kind of financial commitments they'd been able/unable to make in the last few years...

In the UK you need residence of 2 years to get a credit card, unless you can get your Irish Bank to 'introduce' you to somebody...

Blackjack

grumpytrousers wrote:

Not being smart, but would YOU lend X hundred thousand to somebody if you didn't know what kind of financial commitments they'd been able/unable to make in the last few years...

In the UK you need residence of 2 years to get a credit card, unless you can get your Irish Bank to 'introduce' you to somebody...

If the pay slips and bank statements are available, as well as a letter from the employer to prove salary in the UK then I can't see why not.
As regards the Credit Card, that's not the case. I managed to get one before even moving to the UK as I opened an account with BOI over there. I had several offers of cards well before being there 2 years. If you can prove your residence for the past 2 years whether part of that 2 years be abroad or not, then they'll quite happily give you what they have on offer.

grumpytrousers

Blackjack wrote:

If the pay slips and bank statements are available, as well as a letter from the employer to prove salary in the UK then I can't see why not.
As regards the Credit Card, that's not the case. I managed to get one before even moving to the UK as I opened an account with BOI over there. I had several offers of cards well before being there 2 years. If you can prove your residence for the past 2 years whether part of that 2 years be abroad or not, then they'll quite happily give you what they have on offer.

Fair enough - I still think that as a general rule you'll need to have some kind of credit history built up, that Expirion can check you against before you'll get huge amounts of moolah advanced your way...

When i said the two years residence, I meant that you could 'account' for your address for the previous two years. I found meself when i moved to the UK in 1999 that no credit card company wanted to know me 'cos the address I gave as my 'prior' address to the 'present' abode in Hammersmith wasn't in the UK. Like you say, Bank of Ireland were most accomodating to me as well. :-)