AIB closing to switchers: Why? And what does it mean?

AIB announced today that they will be closed to switcher mortgage business effective immediately. We spoke to Mary Wilson from RTE’s Drivetime on the topic and we stated similar views to what you will read here.

The options open to a bank with limited liquidity are essentially ‘who do we lend to’, in terms of expanding credit or extending credit to where it may have a meaningful economic impact. Sadly (because I have to be honest, as a broker this really sucks for us) that means cutting out certain parts of the market such as switchers.

The rationale is that switchers already have the money, they are merely shopping around for a better price, first time buyers on the other hand, haven’t even gotten the money to buy a home with yet and if you have to choose between the two I think it is fair to say that AIB made the right decision. Their commitment to the state during their recapitalisation was to first time buyers, not refinancing applicants or …

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Mortgage options down 50% as of 2010

The Examiner carried a story about the number of options available to borrowers in the present market and the fact that they have dropped over 50% since 2008.

In 2008 there were 380 different mortgages available on the market across all banks and all rate suites, today, that number rests at 179 meaning that at least 50% of the choice is gone. That is also reflective of the fact that so many lenders have exited the market. Below is a list of several who are no longer lending here.

Halifax Fresh Mortgages Springboard Stepstone Nua Homeloans First Active GE Money Leeds

Many of these providers were in the non-prime/specialist/sub-prime category, however, a drop of 50% in choice doesn’t mean that there are no options left. Certainly tracker mortgages are a thing of the past as are Standard Variables (referring to new business for these products, existing clients will keep their existing product).

The other factor that makes this less spectacular is that many lenders replicate offerings, so when each lender pulled out, their two year fixed …

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Marian Finucane Show: Interest Rate Guide

Last Saturday Charlie Weston (award winning Personal Finance editor with the Irish Independent) Karl Deeter (of Irish Mortgage Brokers) were on the Marian Finucane show on RTE 1 (audio here), during the show Karl mentioned a file with mortgage rate information on it that you could download. The file was a mid-sized pdf but they don’t embed easily in the existing site for the show so we are posting it on our site and RTE Will link to it instead.

The file in question is here or you can click on the image to the left, if you have any questions feel free to call us at the number which is at the top of every page on this site.

Thanks for listening and for your enquiries, we were delighted to have a representative from our firm on such a big show, we are huge fans and we hope our opinions …

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Taxing Banks & Taxing Risk

In the first clip, James Galbraith (son of the famous JK), economics professor at University of Texas, discusses whether a new tax on big banks is justified. Ken Bentsen, of the Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association, and Mark Calabria, of the Cato Institute, share their insight as well.

In the second clip Mark Walsh, of ‘Left Jab,’ and Dan Mitchell, of the Cato Institute, discuss taxing banks based on their risk to the system.

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USA: Failed mortgage modification programme

Kudlow talks to Christian Weller, Center for American Progress and Dan Mitchell, Cato Institute on the topic of debt relief and mortgages in the USA, the argument for straight out write-downs on mortgages is compelling, and yet so too is the argument for allowing the market to work. Sometimes believing in the free market is seen as a ‘dirty thing’, but the side effect of trying to manage an economy from every aspect is also a bad thing (look no further than the former Eastern Bloc). Somewhere in the middle is a fair and sustainable path, but ideology bias is usually in the way before the conversation passes go, for that reason you will favour one speaker over the other quite often from the outset. However, ideology doesn’t actually get results, it is merely the platform from which a concept is launched and the better path would be to have an operational model to prove the point – although that isn’t always practical.

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Where are interest rates headed?

While we often see opinions about interest rates given by various commentators, I think the most telling indication is often that of the market, the point at which rates are settling at in prices is available at any time by looking at the Euribor Yield Curve, below is the chart for today.

The idea that rates will probably stay c. 1% until well into 2010 is only partially priced in, you can see the yield curve crossing the 1% mark at 6 months (which would be May 2010) – this however, is the Euribor and does have margin factored in, currently the margin over ECB is c. 25 basis points so the 1% base would cross when the graph above is at c. 1.25%. and that is the part that brings us to the latter half of 2010. The yield curve is live and dynamic so it could change at any time, either flattening or inverting. The reasoning behind where interest rates are going is a science in itself, and one that …

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Mortgage Question: I have no savings, can I borrow a deposit?

The majority of lenders now insist that your deposit comes from a non borrowed source, and will decline your application if you plan to borrow it. The lenders who will consider your application will assess your application with the new deposit loan as a financial commitment which decreases the amount you can borrow on the mortgage, and because it is a short term loan it will eat into borrowing capacity much more than you may expect.

[eg: €100,000 loan over 30yrs costs c. €420 before tax relief, but one tenth of that, €10,000 at personal loan rates over 3yrs will cost c.€313 per month which would reduce the amount you can borrow by approximately €80,000!]

Short answer: You should aim to have your own equity in the deal via savings, if you borrow a deposit then you are running an additional risk and our firm are of the belief that this is generally not in the best interest of the borrower.

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Want bad advice? Pop into your local bank branch.

We felt that this story was worth reproducing in full, it is from today’s Independent, via their award winning Personal Finance editor Charlie Weston. This clearly lays it out in our opinion: getting advice in your local bank branch is perhaps the worst option available, and that puts the value of an independent broker in the light we always aim for, one of being on the customer side, the recent Sunday Times article (three posts before this) demonstrated that in a cost comparison analysis that even the Regulator themselves couldn’t get the prices brokers are able to obtain for their customers! Tuesday December 08 2009

IF you want bad advice, then pop into your local bank branch.

That is the clear message from the latest set of case studies released by Financial Services Ombudsman Joe Meade.

Mr Meade has performed an enormous service for consumers by exposing yet again the shady practices of banks, in particular, when people seek advice.

His report is shot through with examples of consumers, particularly older ones, …

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Mortgage Broker Qualifications – the basics.

If you are dealing with a mortgage broker it is a really good idea to find out a little about them, here is a quick list that we think should help you to navigate the financial waters and avoid potential sharks.

1. Are you individually regulated?: While many people work for a ‘regulated company’ they are often not regulated themselves, this means that if you have an issue that the recourse is to the company and if the person has done wrong they may lose their job but they can still go work somewhere else, we believe that by having individually regulated mortgage advisers it gives people the right message, that each individual in our organisation individually stands over their advice and actions, to the point that any issues fall directly upon their shoulders.

2. What qualifications do you have?: While there are many financial qualifications (ACCA, ACA, CPA, CFA, BComm, MScEcon etc.) the retail broker specific ones are QFA (qualified financial adviser) and LIAM dip (Life Insurance Association Mortgage Diploma), you should make sure that your adviser has at …

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