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THERE IS GOOD NEWS for an estimated 375,000 Irish mortgage holders today, as the European Central Bank kept its main interest rates at record lows.
The Frankfurt-based bank decided today it would keep the low benchmark interest rate of 0.5 per cent, introduced last month, for at least another four weeks.
The decision to maintain the low rates means the holders of tracker mortgages will see their repayments remain at record low levels for at least the next month.
The continued low rates come as inflation continues to remain low throughout the countries that use the single currency.
The cost of living is expected to rise by an average of 1.4 per cent this year, and 1.3 per cent next year – well below the 2.0 per cent that the ECB usually aims for.
ECB president Mario Draghi said that the 17-member eurozone was likely to see a mild economic recovery later this year.
However, the ECB’s projections still indicate an expected contraction in the European economy this year – and the bank today reduced its expectations for growth in 2013 from -0.5 to -0.6 per cent.
Draghi added that recent surveys of economic optimism had shown improvement and the economy “should stabilise and recover in the course of the year.”
The ECB expects the eurozone, which will expand to 18 countries with the membership of Latvia from next January, to grow by 1.1 per cent in 2014 – a slight increase from the 1.0 per cent that had previously been expected.
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Continued relief for mortgage holders? Not if your an Irish mortgage holder who doesn’t have a tracker mortgage.
@kerry. Not really, you should still be relieved whether ur on a tracker or variable, that the rates havent gone UP
Eh not passing on the last interest rate cut is the same as keeping the rates up.
Not to mention AIB / EBS jacking the interest rate up in advance of the ECB’s rate drop which doesn’t get passed on either!! Double slap in the face!! And then Noonan & Co. trot out the line that the Govt. can’t be seen to be gettin involved with the Bank’s affairs by trying to intervene to help its citizens!! Funny that, didn’t stop the Govt pumping billions into the banks coffers when asked!!
Funny , my ebs mortgage goes up by €31 per month this month
I was just gonna say that! Its the 7th increase in 40 months! Ok, there was one decrease as well in fairness.
Means nothing in Ireland , country is a joke run by jokers of a government and greedy bankers .
I am the one and only
No it is me who is the one and only . ( chesney hawk )
No!
I am Spartacus!!
@ tomas: I wonder if you didn’t add your moany comment first, would the rest follow…Hmmm, conundrum.
When will the people learn…
Be grateful for everything for soon there will be nothing.
More populist dribble from you len. How am i not surprised . P.s . Dolan with small D on Dolan isn’t me or is the orange egg. Prat
I agree pop pop populist!!!!
Vin i don’t think you even know who you are.
Zzzzzz.
Paying you to sleep in the dail now Vince are we?
“Continued relief for mortgage holders: ECB keeps rates at record low”????
What a load of spin!!!
What a load of rubbish!!!
What a load of Manure!!!
Pathetic PR rubbish!!!
Is this journalism or an infomercial??
It’s like saying.
“More relief for rape victims because the government insists that the rapist uses vaseline”
“As long as the rape victims pay the rapists for the vaseline”
These farcical, dumb down articles will haunt their bought out authors to their graves.
Some of us have trackers
Some of us don’t
Some of us were illegally and unlawfully conned out of their trackers
Some of us were illegally and unlawfully not offered trackers in the first place,as the bank in question omitted to offer them to some of us although they were available from the bank at the time.
But you won’t hear anything about that from our bought out media.
All you’ll hear is plenty of “Be with AIB” propaganda BS!!!!
Shame on you Irish “Journalists”
Shame on you!!!!
@HARRY MARKOPOLOS
Thats Gavan FG Reilly for ya.
Good man harry
Keep it lit
Harry- all this legality…..when does your case come up in court?
ah hell!!!! now there’s three feckin Vincent’s!! he’s like one of those gremlin yokes!!
Here’s a bit of real news for you Journal.
Even so the ECB is holding its rate at 0.5% (virtually zero)
Many of the 375,000 Irish families on trackers, still can’t pay their mortgages (some for many years now)
Why?
Because of heinous corruption and criminality in the Irish banking sector.
Any chance of an article on that Journal???
Any chance of an article on the young fathers of our country who were driven to early graves by these psychopathic banking criminals that are aided and abetted by our willing bought out “government” and “media”???
When is the court case Vincent?
I suppose it will be when one of our Zombie banks steals more money from you and the already penniless taxpayer and hands it over to a big fat vested interest “legal” firm.
Then we can all go to court and they can have their useless, worthless judgments and charges lodged against me.
All on the taxpayer dime.
Pathetic!!
What a scam!!
A F**king Scam!!!
Breath Harry Breath ;)
However Vincent.
Now that you mention it.
Many people have challenged their banks
because (1) they were conned out of their trackers by taking up a fixed rate (with a hidden revert to standard variable rate clause).
because (2) they came off their fixed rates early because of a ” no penalties offer” which put them on the standard variable rate and discreetly automatically robbed them of ever going back onto their tracker.
because (3) they were never offered a tracker rate in the first place even though it was on the banks menu of options at that particular date and time.
I’m glad to say that, the majority of these people are winning their cases and they are even getting refunded the money that they overpaid.
Why because they are entitled to do so.
Because they are using their voice.
But the disgusting thing is
Even with all the bank related
suicides
austerity
ruined lives
broken homes
emigration
you still get sleazy bank management and bank staff scheming and plotting and ringing up their unknowing, loyal customers
and intentionally trying to scam them into giving up their trackers or trick them into a distressed arrears situation so that they can steal their trackers and other entitlements.
But I’m afraid you won’t hear about that on the Journal Vincent.
4 by my count, Turflife. Me and Weirdo Varadkar by three. He looks up to me, you know. In his inspiration.
I’m
Harry- So when you were saying illegal you were talking through your arse?
Harry- were you out in the Sun for prolonged periods today without hydrating yourself?
Yes harry put on some factor 50. Lather me for i am the one and only.
Irish morgage holders must get pissed of everytime they read headlines like that…..and Irish banks will ignore it.
So will the government sadly..
What a farce..it could be minus 5% and irish banks will still charge what they please to variable rate holders..its a complete disgrace.How ironic it is that if the ECB rose their rates it would actually ease the burden on variable holders as the tracker rate is tied into the ECB rate and irish banks would not need to overcharge variable holders so much!!..they should not be allowed to do so anyway, but when you have the likes of noonan in charge we’re doomed to be screwed!!
If the ECB goes up so will your variable rate. Guaranteed.
Dont be fooled into thinking its tracker mortages that have the banks increasing rates. Im on tracker and borrowered 200,000 i pay back 398,000 over life of mortage so how is bank not making money? There overcharging because there let away with it. I know dozens if people who only pay what they were 5 yrs ago dont see banks taken there houses. Grow a pair and stand up to them.
It wouldn’t ease the burdon as the banks cost of funding would also increase by at least the increase in the ecb rate. Remember that bank funding cost is tied to the euribor rate and hence why they are losing money on trackers.
If the rate had gone up the variable rate would have gone up by at least as much.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT A TRACKER MORTGAGE IS!!!!
“Continued relief for tracker mortgage holders”
I knew when i seen the headline who had written this article. What about variable rate holders and interest rate increases by the banks here.
F@&k off posting this sh&t
Thank god for the tracker mortgage
What difference does it make to us what the ECB are doing as our banks are not passing on the low interest rates.
i heart my tracker
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT A TRACKER MORTGAGE IS.” What’s the bets the banks will soon figure out a way to revoke tracker mortgages.
Why do ye print headlines like this saying relief for mortgage holders. This is NOT relief for mortgages. It is for the tiny few who have tracker mortgages but for the rest on Variable rates and fixed rates not matter what the ECB fixes rates at it will make no difference whatsoever to those who have the majority who have these mortgages.
How do Bank of Scotland work out In all this or Certus who runs the show in Ireland for them?
not certus anymore either
I managed to negotiate a deal with BOS that saved me a fortune. They are doing everything they can to get out of Ireland.
As a variable rate mortgage-holder I disagree with the headline and tone of this article. ‘Continued Relief’! Trackers are laughing for sure, but variable rate mortgage holders have not had any relief recently, quite the opposite.
There is no correlation between the direction of ECB rate changes and the behaviour of the Irish banks when it comes to their variable rate mortgages.
When the ECB cut the base rate last month, the EBS promptly increased their variable rate. The ECB rate cut could have meant relief for me of about €35 per month, but the actions of the EBS meant the opposite, so I had a €35 increase in my mortgage after the last ECB rate cut. Oh, I just feel so… relieved. (That last sentence was sarcastic.)
I know exactly what you are saying Paddy.
Trackers go down.
Bust banks claim poverty and use it as an excuse to increase their variable rates.
I’d take a good look at the fine print on your mortgage though.
There are tens of thousands of people who were wrongly conned out of their trackers or
were wrongly not offered trackers in the fist place.
These people have a strong case to get onto a tracker.
It is worth pursuing.
It could mean the difference of a few hundred thousand Euro.
History has shown that, these bankers don’t always tell the truth.
How is this good news if the banks are not being forced to pass the cuts on to their customers. The banks destroyed the countries that the ECB is trying to help and they are still doing it and getting away with it.
I just wish that they would raise the rates so my government friends and I can buy cheap houses that come on the market after the rabble get evicted. We lost a lot of money in the crash. Thank God for the liquidation of IRBC or we would all be bankrupt.
Extremely low inflation = bad for growth. This will just aid he current stagnation throughout the European market. The ECB should release enough newly printed money to maintain the target rate of 2% – this would allow for growth and a reasonable rate of inflation will, over time, devalue mortgages which would offset any increase in interest rates.
As many have already pointed out, low ECB rates does not help mortgage holders unless the benefit of the low rate is passed onto them. As the banks are trying their best to insulate themselves from the looming mortgage default crisis, there’s little chance of this happening.
Higher EZ inflation = good for Ireland in the mid- to long-term.
This is actually good news for all mortgage holders, not just tracker ones.
If the ECB rate were to go up, variable rates would match the increase. This would be on top of the profit taking by the banks on variable to pay for trackers.
Same bullshit, different day!!
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