Avantcard is going to enter the Irish mortgage market during fall 2020 and is planning to offer a whole suite of mortgage products to customers that offer significant value over the mortgage’s lifetime.
Avantcard specializes in providing both credit cards and personal loans to their prospective customers. As it currently stands, Avantcard is owned by the Spanish banking group Bankinter, the fifth largest bank in Spain. Bankinter has operations in both Portugal and Luxembourg. [1]
As it currently stands, Bankinter has a large mortgage business that spans both Portugal and Spain. Avantcard plans to use their experience in the mortgage industry to provide customers more options in the Irish Mortgage market. [1]
All the mortgage products will be offered under a new division of Avant which is called Avant Money. This new branding shall be extended to the rest of Avantcard’s current mortgage business in the next few months. As it currently stands, the mortgage rates in Ireland are some of the highest in the eurozone. It is currently expected that Avant Money will offer fixed rates below 2pc, which is significantly lower than the 2.87pc average rate on a new mortgage in Ireland among lenders currently. [2]
In entering the Irish mortgage market and slashing mortgage rates, this will pressure existing mortgage lenders to provide lower mortgage rates. Avant Money announcing lower rates have already begun to ripple in the Irish mortgage industry. Permanent TSB has already cut their mortgage rates in response to Avantcard entering the mortgage market in the fall. Permanent TSB are reducing their standard variable rate by 0.55pc, reducing their managed variable rates from 0.10pc to 0.30pc, and will reduce fixed rates for all current Permanent TSB customers that are not locked into a fixed rate mortgage deal. [2]
According to Permanent TSB, these mortgage rate change will affect more than 70,000 of their customers after the changes are rolled out between August 4 and early September. These mortgage rate reductions signal that the mortgage rate war is well and truly here in Ireland, and only time will tell which companies win the mortgage rate war.
Although these mortgage rate reductions are great for borrowers either way you slice it, Ireland’s mortgage rates are still well above their European counterparts.
This article was written by Ian, an intern at Irish Mortgage Brokers and Yes.ie from the USA.
References:
[1] https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0728/1155959-avantcards-mortgage-business/
[2] https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/interest-rate-war-brews-as-new-bank-joins-market-39406557.html