Mortgage holders ‘ripped off’ by fixed-rate loans

Two of the country’s largest mortgage broker groups opened up a new battle saying Irish lenders were short-changing borrowers on variable and fixed-rate home loans.

Consumer advocates and opposition parties have long argued that lenders were charging far too much for their variable rate mortgages, but this new focus by brokers on fixed rate mortgages will likely put pressure on a new government to address the cost of home loans.

Rachel Doyle, chief operations officer at the Professional Insurance Brokers’ Association, said consumers were being “ripped off” because most lenders here were denying borrowers better terms by limiting their choice of fixed rates loans to between one and three years.

These home loans were not “real” fixed rates, while the risks facing Irish lenders have tumbled after the ECB last week cut refinancing costs to zero, she said.

And leading home loans expert Michael Dowling, who chairs the mortgage committee at the Irish Brokers’ Association, said it was time for a new government to give Central Bank powers to regulate the profit banks were generating from all types of mortgage loans.