Sir, - I received a letter from my Bank of Ireland branch about my Homeloan. The letter advised me that repayment of my mortgage at a fixed rate would cease at the end of June. The letter also outlines a list of future fixed and variable rate options that will be available to me.
If I stick with a fixed rate, the letter requires me to sign a statement agreeing to pay a "fee" to the bank, "if I repay all or part of my Homeloan while it is at a fixed rate or switch from this rate to a variable rate before the expiry date."
The "fee" will be three months interest or the loss to the bank as calculated by it or early repayment, or switching whichever is the greater. However, if the mortgage is at variable rate I will not be similarly penalised.
I find it staggering that if I continue with a fixed rate mortgage, and as a good citizen give back to the bank the money I have borrowed before the expiry date, I will be charged for so doing I presume that a similar "fee" for repaying one's loan in good time obtains in the other lending institutions. Is it not time that the Government or the Dail moved to protect citizens from the intense greed of the commercial banks? - Yours, etc.,
Lower Gardiner Street,
Dublin 1.