When and How to Refinance Your Home Loan

Remortgaging, or refinancing your home loan, can be a strategic move for homeowners looking to save money, tap into home equity, or secure better terms on their mortgage. Remortgaging is becoming an increasingly popular option, but it’s important to understand when and how to do it to ensure it benefits your financial situation. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you navigate the process.

 

What is Remortgaging?

Remortgaging involves switching your existing mortgage to a new lender or negotiating a new deal with your current lender. The primary goal is to obtain a better interest rate, access home equity, or change the terms of your mortgage.

 

When to Consider Remortgaging

 

End of Fixed Rate Period

 

If your fixed-rate mortgage is about to end, you may be moved to a standard variable rate (SVR), which is often higher. Remortgaging can help you lock in a new fixed rate or a more favorable variable rate.

 

Lower Interest Rates

 

When market interest rates drop significantly, it can be a good time to remortgage to take advantage of lower …

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Switch and Save

Avant Money estimate that over €25bn of mortgages are on an interest rate higher than they need to pay.

With the cost of living at an all time high, could a 5 minute discussion with a broker save you money in the months and years ahead. It could be the best 5 minute chat you have ever had!

Switching your Mortgage from one provider to another is simple, your Broker will do the research for you and let you know if you will SAVE money.

Some lenders are offering a cashback incentive to help cover the costs with switching, this is a great benefit and something people should look out for. It’s not always right for everyone but certainly worth speaking about.

If you are looking for a financial health check, please drop me an email today or pick up the phone for a no obligation chat –  james.curd(at)mortgagebrokers.ie or 01 633 9248.

 

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Should I switch my Mortgage?

Should I switch my Mortgage? It’s a good question that many borrowers have been asking over the last year and a question that will become a lot more frequent as we head into 2024. Many people have secured themselves a great Mortgage rate over the past 5 years and will soon be looking at what their repayments will be after the ECB rate increases over the last 2 years.

 

Rates have been driven up by the lenders in response to the ECB rises and Mortgage holders will, unfortunately, see the impact of this when their current fixed period comes to an end, which is why it is well worth having a chat with a Broker to see if there is something better for you.

 

Some lenders have fantastic cashback products that can help with many things such as the Legal costs, or the increased monthly costs you are likely to incur. Some Lenders will have lower rates than you are currently paying, why would you pay more at your current lender?

 

In summary, the answer to my …

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Mortgage switching 2022

Last year of the people approved for a mortgage about half of those are first-time buyers. The slowing in the numbers approved for a home, comes as some lenders have already said they increasing their rates. (AIB, Bank of  Ireland, EBS, Haven and Permanent TSB). Around 775 homeowners need mortgages or are switching to another lender at any given time

If you want to buy a house, you have to pay the owner for the house and have to pay your bank for lending the money. Still more than 200,000 households repaying their mortgage on standard rates.

Homeowners should now consider their rates. But there is a risk for those on fixed rates. If they roll out of fixed-term contract in one or two years, the rates could be higher. The prospect of higher mortgage costs is prompting to switch from variable or short-term fixed rates in a bid to the expected increase.

If you decide to switch mortgage, you need a solicitor to take care of the processing, paperwork and liaising. The cost and workload is about half of …

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Mortgage switching: how, when, why

What does it mean to switch mortgages? Why would someone want to switch? What can be gained from switching? Finally, if one wants to switch, how should they go about doing it?

The first question is easy to answer, though oftentimes “switching” can get conflated with “remortgaging.” Don’t be fooled; these refer to two different things that, while similar in concept, can have different implications for the borrower.

“Remortgaging” simply refers to getting a new mortgage to replace a previous one; this can be done with one’s existing lender or a new one.

“Switching” is the process of taking one’s existing mortgage and moving it to a new lender.

Now, for the next question: why would a borrower want to switch mortgages? There are a number of reasons for doing so. Firstly, a borrower might be dissatisfied with their current lender for one reason or another, like poor service or lack of responsiveness to inquiries. If borrowers think another lender will provide better service, tat would be a good reason for switching mortgages to said lender.

Another reason for switching …

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Ulsterbank fire the next shot in the mortgage ‘rate-war’

Ulsterbank recently upped the ante in the mortgage rate-war by reducing a suite of their rates, the story was covered in the Independent which also quoted Irish Mortgage Brokers.

Karl Deeter said the cuts represent the latest shot to be fired in the mortgage rate war.

“In response to Avant Money’s European-style rates, Ulster Bank has had to respond and now it means that other lenders are under even greater pressure to follow or beat these rates.”

He said this means customers will win. But they have to switch lender is they are paying high rates.

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Most mortgage borrowers don’t want to save €10,000

It’s bizarre but true. A recent study by the Central Bank showed that the majority of borrowers stood to really gain in payment savings and interest payments by switching their mortgage and yet only a tiny fraction actaully do it.

Who do you know that would walk by a free €10,000? Nobody right? Yet you do, it may even be you, because if you pay a bank thousands more than you ought to because you aren’t willing to take the time to do some paperwork and switch your loan that’s precisely what happens!

Here are the main findings (verbatim) from the Central Bank:

Three in every five eligible mortgages stand to save over €1,000 within the first year if they switch mortgage provider, and more than €10,000 over the remaining term. Just 2.9% of mortgages switched provider in the second half of 2019. A diverse range of factors may inhibit switching, including psychological factors, lack of knowledge on the costs and benefits, and the perceived complexity.

Get in touch at info@mortgagebrokers.ie apply online or call us and we can help …

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Mortgages on the rise

A sense of impending doom has been a huge part of economic and political decisions within the last few months due to the ever uncertain Brexit debacle. These feelings are slowly beginning to fade in Ireland due to the increased time that Irish businesses and banks have had to prepare for the EU split. Although this event is bound to cause slight fluctuations, economists have noted that the economic future for Ireland is still bright. 

Banks and buyers alike are taking note of this promise, which has been obvious through the most recent data in relation to mortgage approvals and house prices. According to recent bank data, there has been a  significant rise in the number of home related mortgage applications and acceptances. 

The Irish Bank and Payment Federation found that from April to June, there were 10,157 mortgages taken out, which is an 8.8pc rise from the previous period. Using yearly comparisons, it has been shown that the issued mortgage rate this time last year was around 800 acceptances lower. It topped the approvals for the first three months …

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Central Bank report on Switching mortgages

That so many people can switch their mortgage and don’t was always something that puzzled us as professional advisors.

(dowload the report here)

They found many of the things we intuitively knew but put numbers on it, issues such as inertia, complexity of product, and other issues like naive procrastination.

The numbers are not small either, savings of over €10,000 are being passed by and Irish consumers seem to be willingly paying about €65,000,000 more than they should to the lenders simply by not being more pro-active with their own finances.

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KBC reactivate the switching market

There has been an absence of competition in the switching market for some time. AIB don’t even do them while others try to avoid switcher loans. PTsb have been in that space for some time but were largely unchallenged except by (to a lesser extent) Ulsterbank.

Which is why it’s nice to see KBC come out with a product for people who want to switch to them. Naturally the best prices are at low loan to values, these types of loans have obvious advantages to banks in terms of the condition of their loan book, but it’s good to see this as moderating credit conditions have to start somewhere.

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