Irish Times: Avant Money enters mortgage scene with lowest rate on Irish market

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Joey Sheahan, head of credit at MyMortgages.ie, said Avant Money’s entry into the Irish market was the “best news” for Irish mortgage holders.

“We have long seen European rates well below 2 per cent compared to closer to 3 per cent for Irish mortgage holders, and now, for the first time since before 2008, rates below 2 per cent are available to homeowners in Ireland,” he said.

“It’s a once-in-a-decade or maybe even two-decade opportunity where a new lender enters the Irish market and reduces interest rates to this extent.

“We are delighted to be one of Avant Money’s partners and our advice to mortgage holders is now is the time to review their current mortgage, even if they have done so recently.

“A mortgage holder with €300,000 outstanding with 32 years remaining and loan-to-value of below 60 per cent can save €158 monthly or €60,000 over the term of mortgage based on reducing interest rate from 2.95 per cent to 1.95 per cent.”

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Read the full article on The Irish Times – https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/avant-money-enters-mortgage-scene-with-lowest-rate-on-irish-market-1.4354349

Would you like to work with MyMortgages.ie? We have 2 new positions open within our busy team.  Due to the continued growth of our business, we’re looking for Mortgage Administrators to join MyMortgages.ie, one of Ireland’s most active Mortgage Brokers. The positions will be based in our Cork office.

The role of Mortgage Administrator involves:

Management of client applications for residential and residential investment mortgages.

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View the full job spec here

MyMortgages.ie is honoured to be shortlisted in the Finance category of the Irish Content Marketing Awards 2020.

We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed until the 12th November, but in the meantime congratulations to the other finalists in the category Central Bank of Ireland, Aviva, Davy and Allianz Partners.

Click here to see contenders in all Award Categories.

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Joey Sheahan from MyMortgages.ie on 96FM with PJ Coogan, discussing the possibility of getting mortgage approval while in receipt of Covid-19 state payments. See link below to hear the full interview.

‘…..Can you get a mortgage approved ? Yes you can. If your employer is on the Wage Subsidy Scheme or if you are on the (Pandemic) Unemployment Benefit, yes you will still get approved.

….You take a builder and somebody working in a bar earning €40, 000 a year each. They are currently both unemployed earning €350 a week, we can get approval for them based on their full wages. However, the bank will want them to produce a payslip later in the process before they release funds showing that they are back to work.

So yes, you still can get a mortgage approved. ……We have a number of banks that will approve on that basis’.

Click on the link below to hear full interview.

Source: 96FM 18th May 2020

Q.
Should I avail of a moratorium? Will it cost me more?

A.
I believe that the demand for moratoriums will have reduced drastically this week following the Government’s announcement of the Covid 19 Wage Subsidy Scheme where Revenue will pay 70% of employees salaries up to a limit if €410 weekly (ie €1,775 monthly) and the increase in the Covid unemployment benefit to €350 weekly (ie €1,515 monthly) from €203. Given that it’s very difficult to spend money at present, most people should be able to meet their monthly financial commitments in the short term based on the above supports.

If you have been made redundant and cannot meet your monthly repayment, contact your bank immediately and apply for a moratorium it.

If you qualify but don’t need it, then don’t rush into it.. this choice can occur where somebody has been made redundant, has a mortgage repayment of say €1,000 monthly but may have savings of say €20,000. In this instance you can use €3,000 of your savings to pay your mortgage for 3 months. The reason why some people won’t avail of the moratorium is that if they wish to borrow again in the next couple of years, availing of the moratorium may go against them in terms of being approved for a new mortgage. As it stands most banks will want you to be making full repayments for 2 years after a moratorium before they will approve a mortgage. Also.m, a borrower will pay more interest in the long term.

For example a borrower has €350,000 outstanding with 32 years remaining and a variable interest rate of 3.15%. Monthly payments are €1,447.83 monthly. If they don’t make payments for 3 months they will pay an additional €2,651 interest on the 3 months deferred payments of €4,546 over the remaining 31 years 9 months.

Read the full article by Charlie Weston in the Sunday Independent here –
https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/your-questions-im-worried-stock-market-turmoil-has-hit-my-pension-should-i-be-taking-action-39120072.html

Q My job in catering has been lost as a result of the coronavirus. It’s a large company and we’re told the layoff is temporary. My mortgage is with AIB and they are offering a three-month payment holiday on the repayments. But I understand it’s another loan of sorts? Should I take it or continue to pay the mortgage out of savings? My wife is still working full time and we could afford to do this. The payments are €1,240 p.m. and we have 16 years left on the loan.

A The mortgage moratorium has been billed as a bit of a payment ‘holiday’. It is no such thing. All that will happen is the three months’ payments will be rolled up and added on to the end of your loan, extending out the term. This has the effect of rolled up interest too, so the sums should be done very carefully before you decide.

Joey Sheahan, author of The Mortgage Coach, says: “As your wife is still employed and you can afford to meet the monthly repayment, I would strongly advise to continue making it. If your wife was not working and you did not have any savings, then you may not have a choice but to avail of a payment holiday/moratorium.

“The word ‘holiday’ indicates a pleasant experience, however anyone who avails of a moratorium will ultimately pay more interest over the life of their mortgage as you are deferring repayments of €3,720 in your case. Additional interest of around €968 would be paid on €3,720 over 16 years, assuming an interest rate of say three per cent. Another factor in making a decision on this is if you are planning on applying for a new mortgage in the future (for example if you were to switch your existing mortgage or move house).

“Based on current credit policy, which each bank sets on its own, some banks may not approve your new mortgage application if you have availed of an alternative repayment arrangement (which would include a moratorium/payment holiday) within the two years prior to applying for a new mortgage.”

So, do your own sums, but also ask the bank to outline, specifically, in writing exactly what it will cost you before committing.

If you have a rainy-day fund start eating into it now

We didn’t think we’d be back here again so soon. Ten years on from the last financial crisis, recession looms once more. But there’s a difference this time round: we’ve navigated these waters before. Our muscle memory is strong, and there are things you can do right now to ease your finances and your mind.
Mortgage
Keeping a roof over your head will be your biggest priority. With estimates that up to 350,000 people, or one in six of the working population, will lose their jobs as result of the Covid-19 pandemic, banks should be as worried about mortgage default as you are.

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Ten years on from the last financial crisis, recession looms once … Our muscle memory is strong, and there are things you can do right now to ease your finances and your mind. … more interest in the long term, says Joey Sheahan of mymortgages.ie.

Read the full article by Joanne Hunt in the Irish Times here – https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/how-to-budget-your-way-through-financial-realities-of-covid-19-1.4216004?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fpersonal-finance%2Fhow-to-budget-your-way-through-financial-realities-of-covid-19-1.4216004

Rates have continued to fall, so anyone paying more than 2.2% should have a rethink writes Joanne Hunt in the Irish Times.

Nobody wants to pay more for anything than they need to. Yet, if you are not considering the latest fixed-rate mortgage rates, that’s exactly what you might be doing.
Whether you are a first-time buyer, you are on a variable rate or you’ve already fixed, there are deals to be had. With fixed rates now ranging from 2.2 per cent, anyone paying more needs to ask themselves, and their lender: why?

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Yet, if you are not considering the latest fixed-rate mortgage rates, that’s exactly … Some are switching lender to get a lower rate. … says Joey Sheahan of mymortgages.ie and author of The Mortgage Coach.

Read the full article here:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/fixed-rate-mortgages-shop-around-because-there-are-deals-to-be-had-1.4202285?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fpersonal-finance%2Ffixed-rate-mortgages-shop-around-because-there-are-deals-to-be-had-1.4202285

Irish homeowners are overpaying by an average of €3,480 on yearly mortgage repayments. Due to a large number of homeowners failing to change lenders to get a better deal.                                                                                                                                       A mortgage price war with AIB is raging. After rival banks KBC and Ulster bank also revealed reductions.                                                                                                                       Joey Sheahan expects things to heat up this year.

You can read more from the article here – https://www.thesun.ie/news/5132690/irish-homeowners-mortgage-repayments/

Watch the excerpt by clicking here

AIB is cutting its fixed mortgage rates in a move that could save homeowners a massive €1,152 a year, based on a mortgage of €270,000 over 25 years.

The bank is reducing its three-year and five-year fixed mortgage rates for the second time in a year from 2.5% to 2.45%, with immediate effect. AIB also reduced its ‘Green’ five-year fixed rate mortgage from 2.5% to 2.45%.

AIB customers, who are currently on their variable mortgage rate of 3.15%, could save €96 a month (€1,152 a year) if they switch to the Green five-year rate, based on a mortgage of €270,000 over 25 years.

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Figures from the BPFI say that in the final quarter of 2018 there were 1,684 re-mortgage/switching loans, and experts say more needs to be done to let homeowners know that they could be eligible for savings and that it is not as “arduous, complicated or intimidating” process as they may expect.

“The numbers stack up – switching could save an average mortgage holder anywhere in the region of €275 monthly or €3,300 annually or €99,000 over the life of a fairly average sized €280,000 mortgage over 30 years, with a LTV of less than 50%, by reducing the variable interest rate from 4.5% to 2.75%,” explained Joey Sheahan, Head of Credit at MyMortgages.ie.

“We need to do more to broadcast to every mortgage holder in the country that they could be in line for savings, and to explain to them that the process need not be arduous, complicated or intimidating as they might expect.”

Read the full article on RSVP here –
https://www.rsvplive.ie/news/irish-news/homeowners-could-save-more-1k-21571842