Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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There is no reason for it. Unless the customer wants to give money to Bank of Ireland for the craic, is there any sound financial reason why a person should have a mortgage at a variable rate with Mr. Kelly’s bank, when there are significant savings to be made? I say that because we know that this happens in insurance, in mortgages and elsewhere, where people, unfortunately, have a fear of moving or even of moving products and all that involves. Mr. Kelly’s bank is exploiting that fear deliberately. I put it to Mr. Kelly very clearly that his bank is doing this consciously because there is no financial reason in this world why a person should be with Bank of Ireland on a variable mortgage when one can get the same product from other competitors at nearly 1.5% less, which will save that person thousands of euro. A person with a loan-to-value mortgage of €200,000 with Bank of Ireland over a 20-year period would save over €1,500 per year if he or she were with AIB. Over the lifetime of the mortgage, that person would probably save €30,000. He or she would save a significant amount, Mr. Kelly’s bank is actually making that money because, in my view, it is exploiting the inertia of its customers.