AIB Owner Occupier Mortgages

AIB owner occupier mortgages are designed for ordinary people that are purchasing their home as their main residence. They are not suitable for 'buy to let', or for holiday homes, and the interest rates are very competitive.

Interest Rates

The main difference between an owner occupier and a buy to let mortgage is that whereas the former offers a very competitive 2.85% for a 1 year fixed rate, the buy to rent rate fixed for the same period is 3.6% A first time buyer can get the same fixed rate period at 2.4%. Owner occupier mortgages are hence significantly less expensive than those for buyers intending to let their homes.

What the above rates should also indicate to you is that first time buyers can get their mortgages at a lower interest rate than existing AIB customers, although the cheapest interest rates of all are the 2.4% offered on mortgages with a loan to value (LTV) rate of 50% or less. Therefore, if you can afford to pay a higher deposit that takes your LTV to the next band, you could pay less in interest charges.

Interest Only

In addition to a range of competitive interest rates, AIB owner occupier mortgages offer you alternative initial payment options which are of particular benefit if you are a first time buyer, or a young professional purchasing your first home after a period studying at university or college. In the latter case you might be saddled with a hefty student loan to repay, and a decent mortgage loan might stress your finances for a while until your income increases.

In such cases, AIB can offer owner occupiers an interest only deal for five years, meaning that you pay nothing towards the principal amount during that period. Yes, it does mean you will have to pay more later, but in five years you should be earning a better salary, and your student loan should be more or less paid off. That is a good deal, because you are paying less when you have least money, and more when you have most.

Deferred Payments

Another option is to have your payments deferred for up to three months. This is particularly useful for an owner occupier that has to buy new furniture, carpets, decoration and the like. A three month period before starting your mortgage repayments would certainly be welcome, and Allied Irish Banks can offer you that. There is only one proviso: you cannot have both deals. You cannot defer your payments and have the interest only deal. It is one or the other.

Deposits and Other Costs

Few mortgage lenders will offer you a 100% mortgage, and 92% is pretty much the standard for AIB. If you are a professional, particularly a first time buyer, then you can get a Young Professional Mortgage deal offering 100% finance, but generally not otherwise. You should keep that in mind when calculating how much you can afford to offer, because it is likely to influence the price that you can afford to offer.

An offer of 150,000 euro will require you to pay 8% of that as a deposit, or 12,000 euro. That would be reduced to 8,000 for 100,000 euro home, so your offer might well be influenced less by your affordable monthly repayment than by the spare cash you have available.

The other costs you have to keep in mind are your legal costs, the cost of any surveys you might require and the stamp duty, though that would not be a factor if you are a first time buyer. First time buyers are exempt from paying stamp duty.

Other Benefits

Other benefits of AIB Owner Occupier Mortgages include good repayments terms. Although most people take their mortgages out for 20-30 years, it is possible to borrow over 35 years. Although this leads to you paying more interest over the period, your monthly repayments are less. This is a useful option, particularly for young professionals who are not earning much now, but will be doing so in a short while.

First time owner occupiers with AIB will also be offered a 20% discount on their home insurance if they include that in the package, and you can also negotiate a good rate for your life assurance. The entire AIB Owner Occupier Mortgage package is an attractive one, and elements of it can be negotiated and changed to best meet your needs.

AIB offer many different types of mortgage deals, and if you have a specific mortgage requirement they will be pleased to discuss it with you. Ultimately, the decision is yours, but a mortgage with AIB offers you a degree of security not available with smaller mortgage lenders.