We love reporting on good news in the personal finance world. The Bank of Ireland did a review and instead of 1,200 borrowers having to pay more on their mortgage, the bank decided that that is no longer the case.
There were tons of complaints about the mortgage rate increase, and the company has decided not to pursue their original plan. Now, we can go on and on about corporations gone wild and banks that are pushing our buttons, but when there’s good news, it’s time to celebrate.
The bank has come under fire for their plan, but they cite that it’s necessary. They’re saying that funding is much more expensive now, and they have to maintain a higher level of capital than before.
The issue comes up with tracker mortgages quite often. If you’re not in the loop, tracker mortgages are variable-rate home loans that are linked to an index. So you might have a base rate plus a margin that’s linked to the index. The tracker deal doesn’t last forever, and you’ll get switched to the lender’s SVR (standard variable rate). This is usually a lot more money than what you were getting with the initial tracker mortgage.
People use these mortgages in order to begin climbing the properly ladder. This is perfectly reasonable as long as you’re willing to have your eyes peeled to the fine print. You’ll also do better with this type of mortgage if you have decent credit. That way you can remortgage when the tracker mortgage really doesn’t serve your needs anymore.
It’s always up to you to figure out what’s gig to fit your needs best. If you’re intrigued by tracker mortgages, you should be talking with a financial adviser to see if that’s a really good move. A good mortgage broker can get you really hot tracker mortgage deals, but you’re going to have to weigh the pros and cons on your own. There’s nothing like being able to make sure that you really have covered just about everything possible with your mortgage. The consequences of not paying attention to the details can be quite high, so make sure that you get things together as soon as possible. Good luck!