Switching from Ulster Bank to...

fliball123 · 08-09-2022 2:52pm

Sorry if this has been answered earlier in the thread but does anyone know what is happening with Offset tracker mortgages within Ulster bank?

rameire · 08-09-2022 3:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590130#Comment_119590130

Nobody knows, Not even UB.

fliball123 · 08-09-2022 3:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590379#Comment_119590379

I cant see anyone touching these with a barge poll to be honest way to much risk involved.

08-09-2022 3:41pm

I have now completed closing of all my accounts and credit cards with UB. Am with AIB now but they are nowhere near as good. All my AIB charges are offset by the Cashback on my credit card, so that's one good thing.

phormium · 08-09-2022 5:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590390#Comment_119590390

In what way are they risky more so than ordinary mortgages? Just curious as to your reasoning 🙂

fliball123 · 08-09-2022 5:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591071#Comment_119591071

Well Irish bank accounts have a record swelling of savings in them and by using these savings and offsetting the interest on the mortgage, the savings become more and more expensive for the bank taking these mortgages on (if any bank does take them on) as interest rates go higher. So a person with this kind of set up could have the whole mortgage or partial mortgage offset by savings and if the person wants they can take the savings out hide the savings from everyone and default on the mortgage and live there without paying a mortgage for 10 years. So is the juice worth the squeeze. Obviously the latter of defaulting can happen on any mortgage but at least banks taking on the mortgage would be covered in part by interest being paid.

phormium · 08-09-2022 5:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591142#Comment_119591142

I would never have come up with that theory!

Whatever about the banks not wanting the extra savings which I could see how that would be at the moment surely the amount of people in the bracket who have enough to offset their full mortgage with savings are not the cohort likely to do a strategic default, why would you bother with the hassle! At the end of the day you'd still have to pay up or sell up!

fliball123 · 08-09-2022 6:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591162#Comment_119591162

I have seen stranger things if property prices drop to below what someone has in their savings so hypothetically. You have a house that is worth say 300k and you owe 200k on a mortgage and you have 200k in savings so your not paying interest at all. If the house price drops to 150k (I know 50% is highly unlikely but it happened before and as recently as 2008 so never say never) you still have 200k in your a/c you could take the 200k and put it under the pillow or where ever, strategically default, live for 10 years without paying a mortgage and if your saving that amount that you were paying off the mortgage you are in a much better financial position in 10 years time. It all depends on house prices do, but for the life of me I cannot see how property prices will continue to rise with the way interest rates are going surely it has to impact both affordability and demand. As I say this kind of mortgage for a bank looking to buy has a lot of risk attached which is why I reckon they have not been dealt with.

phormium · 08-09-2022 7:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591301#Comment_119591301

Thing is though I don't think there are that many of them and it's a long time since one was issued so well into their terms at this stage, I only have 7 yrs I think left on my so in general they are not huge amounts o/s v ltv I would say. That scenario is a pretty small risk I would say, the excess savings are you said are probably a greater nuisance for a bank these days!

NewbridgeIR · 22-09-2022 5:55pm

Switched my sole and joint accounts from UB to AIB recently.

Had to move 12 direct debits, 8 recurring card payments, 2 salaries plus child benefit.

Decided to do everything manually myself. Just kept a record on Excel of when every payment was due and timed the switching as soon as a payment went out/in.

All direct debits were successfully taken from AIB the month after moving. Only one originator asked for a paper mandate. All the others allowed me change over the phone or online.

No problem with any of the card payments.

No issue with the salaries or child benefit.

Jim2007 · 23-09-2022 11:20pm

*** MOD ***

I have deleted a number of speculative posts.

barry181091 · 25-09-2022 9:44am

Is there a consensus on the best bank to move to? I like EBS as its free but it sounds ancient in terms of the app and online stuff. UB was amazing with the app and online experience.

Jim_Hodge · 25-09-2022 9:49am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662150#Comment_119662150

You really need to look at them yourself and decide based on what you want/need. UB online was hard to beat. We ended up with AIB and all good enough so far.

barry181091 · 25-09-2022 9:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662161#Comment_119662161

Yeah, you're right. I am tempted to go all online only like revolut considering its guaranteed up to 100k now.

blackbox · 25-09-2022 9:56am

I had some savings in a ub current account.

I transferred it all to state savings so that my ub balance was 0.00.

I see my ub balance is now -3.40.

Will they expect me to send them a cheque?

barry181091 · 25-09-2022 10:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662169#Comment_119662169

Ok, it took all of ten minutes to set up an AIB account on my phone. You can't beat that efficiency.

Dream123 · 25-09-2022 11:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662176#Comment_119662176

I think fairly safe to assume they aren’t going to bother chasing €3.40, I expect they will just write off as minor fees or whatever caused it

Thewires · 25-09-2022 12:16pm

I have finally transferred all my direct debits to my new account, although my last energy bill was allowed to go through, leaving me overdrawn. im tempted to just leave it as is. Realistically what are the penalties for owing a few hundred to a company that won’t exist in a few months?

rameire · 25-09-2022 2:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662636#Comment_119662636

You will be mistaken if you believe the bank won't be there in a few months.

But they may have a policy to write off small balances.

Jim2007 · 25-09-2022 3:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662636#Comment_119662636

Who said they won't exist? They will give up their banking license, but in my experience it can take up to 20 years before a company is finally dissolved and ceases to exist. Most likely they will package such debts up and sell them to someone who will be very motivated to collect on them.

jj880 · 25-09-2022 4:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119662636#Comment_119662636

Future credit rating?

El Weirdo · 27-09-2022 1:23pm

Myself and herself set up our joint deposit account with AIB a few weeks ago, and I've just opened a personal current account on the app there now. Easy process since we'd done the ID stuff in-branch for the deposit account, but I've noticed that the sort code for my new current account is for the branch in Letterkenny. I'm assuming it's because I had an account up there when I was a student 25 years ago, but that isn't my local branch. I hardly even used that account and thought it was well closed by now.

Does anyone know how easy it is to change the branch on my account or is it even worth the hassle to do it?

everlast75 · 29-09-2022 7:22am

Couldn't bring myself to go to AIB or BoI so I joined the local credit union who have a current account.

App online allows joining online for a shares (or savings) account. Applied in person for a current account. All set up, a day or two to wait for the debit card.

phormium · 29-09-2022 8:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119670896#Comment_119670896

I don't think it's possible to change the domiciled branch without closing that account and opening a new one with the branch you want, now I imagine the bank can work it out between themselves to do it fairly easily but I'm not sure it's worth the bother.

For all the years I have had my mortgage the linked current account has been designated to a different branch to the one I have the rest of my accounts in, it has made zero difference. Gone are the days when you had to bank in a particular branch for them to be able to deal with the account or you needed to speak to 'your' bank manager so I don't think I'd bother.

GBX · 29-09-2022 8:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119678803#Comment_119678803

Same as. Happy with it so far. Very easy getting set up with them.

BagofWeed · 01-10-2022 8:50pm

EBS's online stuff is fairly pathetic. That card manager app is an absolute joke and the authenticator is just a stupid pain. One app would be nice instead of having, 1 their online page, 2 the authenticator app and 3 their card manager app. And all three are useless. The UB app was in fairness very good, couldn't have asked for more with it tbh.

Slideways · 02-10-2022 2:54am

I was starting to flap a bit as I’m in Australia and didn’t really want to use the “internet” banks.

Then I remembers I had an old credit union acc that the Ma kept active by chucking a few quid in every blue moon.

E-mailed them and then a follow up phone call and I was sorted. Can’t get the app though as it’s only on the Irish iTunes Store but the web page will do nicely.

What date are the tracker mortgagee due to move?

I sent some money home to chop a bit off the remaining amount and it took ages for them to transfer it over

rameire · 02-10-2022 9:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119691122#Comment_119691122

Glad you got sorted.

Trackers are next June I believe. They go to AIB.

Fixed and variables are in the next week. They go to PTSB.

El Weirdo · 07-10-2022 3:14pm

Jaysus, AIB's app is absolute rubbish so far.

Perpetual login loops where you put in the login details and you get directed back to the login page despite entering correct details. SMS verification codes only being received once in a blue moon. Virtually impossible to add any money to my Revolut account.

07-10-2022 6:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119713560#Comment_119713560

Dont worry, you will soon adapt to the inferior service from AIB. One thing I can do with AIB that I couldn't do with UB is top up my Revolut account with my AIB credit card. That has proven very useful!

Switching from Ulster Bank to...

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