Bank offers mortgage customers €1.5k for legal fees

Ulster Bank is to seek to grow its share in the mortgage market by offering customers €1,500 towards their legal fees.

The legal fee payment, which will be made following mortgage drawdown, is available to customers who have a mortgage offer issued between March 13 and June 13, 2015.

The bank yesterday said it is targetting the mortgage market as a key channel for growth as it challenges the two domestic pillar banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland.

The move comes a month after the bank cut its standard variable rate for both new and existing mortgage holders by 0.20% from 4.50% APR to 4.30%.

The cuts came after reductions by AIB and its subsidiaries, Haven and EBS, last December.

They were followed in January by similar cuts from Permanent TSB and reductions for some Bank of Ireland customers.

Ulster Bank will also equip ‘mobile mortgage managers’ to visit customers outside of the branch network and talk them through the mortgage options available to them, according to Jim Ryan, Ulster Bank’s head of branch banking.