ECB rate hike could see mortgage holders pay an extra €1,000 a year

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, which is set to unveil its first interest rate rise in over a decade. Irish experts are calling on banks not to pass the cost on to mortgage holders. File picture: Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty

Pressure is mounting on AIB, Bank of Ireland, and Permanent TSB to defer passing on the costs to mortgage holders as the ECB prepares to unveil its first interest rate increases in over a decade.

Thursday’s ECB hike could immediately add almost €1,000 to the annual mortgage cost for around 450,000 Irish tracker and variable rate borrowers, if the central bank were to hike official rates by as much as half a percent.