Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get a mortgage these days?
The quick answer is yes, you can get a mortgage but the more honest answer is yes, you can get a mortgage but only if you can satisfy a number of conditions imposed by the lenders.
For more information, click here.
How much will my mortgage cost?
To find out more about your payments, click the link below to go to our mortgage calculator:
Do I get tax relief on my mortgage?
Yes, for the first 7 years as a first time buyer.
For more information visit the Revenue website: www.revenue.ie
What other associated costs are there with a mortgage?
Life insurance - cost will depend on a number of factors, try our sister site for a quote
House insurance - cost will depend on house value and location - €30 per month average.
Valuation - €130
Survey (not compulsory but advised) - €500
Legal fees
Can you save me money on the insurance, solicitor and surveyor fees?
Yes, we exclusively offer a €999 package.
Our sister site, Life4Less.ie guarantees not to be beaten on price.
Legal outlays are the costs than are incurred on the purchase of a property.
These incude stamp duty (if applicable), land registration fees and searches.
There may be other legal outlays depending on the nature of the title.
Legal outlays are not covered by our €1999 package.
The full list of legal outlays to be paid will be outlined by the solicitor from the outset.
How do mortgage brokers get paid?
Mortgage brokers are paid a commission from the bank that gives you the mortgage. The amount of commission varies between banks from 0.5% to 1% of the mortgage amount. Remember the banks who pay the most commission may not have the lowest interest rates. Also remember that some brokers do not deal with all the lenders.
How are Moneyback Mortgages different?
We are different because we give the Money that we receive from the bank Back to the customer. Because we give all the Moneyback, you are guaranteed that we will not be swayed by commission when getting you the best deal. We place out mortgage through PIBA (Professional Insurance Brokers Association) (www.piba.ie) so have access to 15 lenders
Can you arrange a solicitor for me
We have arrangements with solicitors countrywide so can offer you a fixed price service. Please ask us for a fixed quote so you will know exactly how much your legal fees will be.
- For any purchase, the professional fees will be €900 + VAT + Legal Outlays
- For any sale, the professional fees will be €900 + VAT + Legal Outlays
- For any remortgage, the legal fees will be €950 all inclusive.
What other costs are involved in a mortgage?
We can offer you competitive quotes on home insurance and mortgage protection. We also offer a fixed price valuation for €100 (saving you €50) and a structural survey for €350 (saving €50)
EURIBOR (European Inter Bank Offered Rate) is the interest rate at which banks lend to each other. At the moment because of the crisis of confidence in the financial markets, this rate has jumped to about 4.95% as banks are less willing or don't have the liquidity (cash) to lend to each other.
For simplicity sake, let's say it's AIB lending to First Active. Therefore AIB lends to First Active at 4.95% and then First Active lends this money -- in the form of a mortgage -- to you. If the ECB (European Central Bank) rate -- on which banks base their trackers -- is 4.25% and First Active are borrowing money at 4.95%, it is clear that something has to give. The banks are now losing money on a lot of tracker rates and so they have made new trackers prohibitively expensive in order to force clients onto their variable rates where the bank has the control on when to raise or lower the interest rate and to what extent. So the days of lower tracker margins are over. No longer will we see ECB + 0.5% or ECB + 0.75%. The base rate that the banks look at will no longer be the ECB rate but EURIBOR. In fact, one lender has raised its tracker to ECB + 2.2%!! So, if you are is on a tracker of lower than ECB + 1% is doing well and would be advised to stay with that lender for the time being. If you do need to top up, make sure you keep the main part of the mortgage at your current rate and just the top up on today's higher rates.
In addition, I foresee banks pricing their variable rates at a lower level than the tracker rates in order to make the variable rate more attractive to the client. Although there may be short term gain here for you, remember that your lender can then increase it's variable rate as it sees fit for the duration of the mortgage.
Simply ask your question in the short form to the right and we will get back to you ASAP, or contact us on 057 9320836



