Tag: Mortgage
MORTGAGE UPDATE
One in three homeowners who have taken out a mortgage since 2004 now find themselves in negative equity, according to Central Bank figures, The Sunday Business Post reports. The Central Bank estimates around one in eight of all Irish households are in negative equity but the figures rise dramatically for those who took out their mortgages more recently.
MORE BANKING BAILOUTS
Analysis of the bank stress tests and details of the restructuring dominated the headlines this weekend. The estimated bill for rescuing the Irish banking sector increased by €24 billion last week and now stands at €70bn with only two main banks remaining as financial “pillars” – Bank of Ireland and an AIB/ESB hybrid. Irish Life & Permanent will sell off its life assurance arm and permanenttsb will be hived off as a niche mortgage bank or wound down.
EURO INFLATION
Europe’s inflation problem is set to cause distress in Ireland and other debt-laden nations. The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to raise its rate – which is the base rate for banks who lend money to consumers – from a record low of 1%. After keeping the rate steady for two years, the ECB may announce a quarter-point rise in the rate to 1.25% on Thursday to control inflation in the larger Eurozone area now running at 2.6% due to runaway commodity prices.
DON’T OVERPAY YOUR PTSB TRACKER MORTGAGE
People with a Permanent TSB tracker mortgage should suspend voluntary overpayments for a while to await news of a possible sweetener to be introduced by the bank, The Sunday Times’ personal finance editor Niall Brady advises.
PTSB BUY BACK TRACKERS?
Permanent TSB, Ireland’s biggest mortgage lender, is considering paying hard cash to customers with tracker mortgages in a bid to persuade them to give them up, according to The Sunday Business Post.
PERSONAL DEBT RISING
Almost 10% of the 6m loans registered with the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB) are now at least a month in arrears – up from fewer than 1% in 2007, according to The Sunday Times.
MORTGAGE ARREARS
The banks have yet to act on a key recommendation of the government’s expert group on mortgage arrears four months after promising to comply and despite receiving millions in public money to bail them out, according to The Sunday Times.
THE COST OF INTEREST RATE HIKES
European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate hikes could cost Irish homeowners €450m this year and another €1.9 billion on top in 2012, an expert on banking relationships told The Sunday Business Post.
MORTGAGE INTEREST RELIEF
Permanent TSB has intensified its efforts to end interest-only mortgages for its buy-to-let customers, according to The Sunday Business Post. A number of the bank’s customers received letters in the past couple of weeks notifying them of the changed terms, including a warning that they could lose their tracker-rate mortgages.
PTSB FIXED RATE MORTGAGES
Permanent TSB may re-introduce fixed rate mortgages but at rates as high as 7%, effectively pricing itself out of the market, The Sunday Times reports.
MORTGAGE RATES RISING
Standard variable rates could hit 5% by the end of the year even if the European Central Bank continued to hold its base rate steady at 1%, a leading Dublin mortgage broker told The Sunday Business Post.
MORTGAGES
The private equity group bidding for EBS will try to buy Permanent TSB and other banking businesses if it manages to secure the building society, The Sunday Business Post reports.
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