AIB said it would be reducing its rates on personal, business and mortgage loans following the ECB interest rate announcement.

The small business group ISME and the Construction Industry Federation earlier called on the banks to immediately pass on the ECB interest rate cut in full to customers.

People on tracker mortgages should benefit from the cut almost straight away, but most other banks have not yet said if and when cuts in other rates will be passed on.

AIB and Bank of Ireland say their tracker rates will come down within five days of the ECB’s cut becoming effective. Bank of Ireland says it is monitoring the situation with regard to other rates.

Irish Life and Permanent says the terms of its contract with mortgage holders is that the tracker rate must change to reflect the ECB move within one month of the ECB move. Irish Life and Permanent is not offering new tracker mortgages.

A spokesperson for National Irish Bank said it was normal practice to pass on rate reductions for customers with tracker mortgages or tracker-based deposit accounts as soon as they came into effect. But it said the issue of a rate cut for those with other products was a separate matter.

Ulster Bank and First Active say they will review the pricing of their lending products after the ECB cut.

The move follows signifigant pressure from Europe as it views the governments guarantee as being anti-competative.

The minister stated that “Extra safeguards would be linked to the extension of the scheme to ensure that support related only to non-Irish banks’ liabilities in the Irish economy”.

I’ve never used them and so have nothing to add on the quality of properties or service but you can go ahead and check them out for yourself. What I found most interesting is their claim to offer properties that ‘Can wash it’s own face’, i.e. the mortgage repayments are less than the rental income, to use their words.

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2 Simple Steps to getting the best mortgage.

When you multiply out the number of lenders by the number of mortgage options they provide, there are litteraly hundereds to choose from; so how can you be sure you are getting the best mortgage for you?

1. Knowledge

More than anything else, the most important thing is that you have a clear understanding of the type of mortgage that suits you best and also an understanding of the actual process of obtaining a mortgage. Put simply, a mortgage is a product just like anything else, it’s something you buy and the same common sense approach used by most people when buying a car or a new tv should be used when buying a mortgage.

If you’ve got some questions, then jump into the discussion forums and ask them there.

3. A good mortgage broker

Whether you know the actual mortgage packages that your are interested in or not, it’s a good time to seek the services of a good mortgage broker. The important thing is to find a broker that has access to your chosen lenders as many will not. In fact, over 50% of mortgage brokers in Ireland have appointments to less than 3 lenders.

Uee our Find a Broker tool to find brokers and the lenders they have access to.