From today, the mortgage rate will decrease by 0.15pc to 0.2pc on a number of products that are fixed for periods of between two and seven years.
The rate decreases will apply to mortgages where the Loan to Value ratio is between 80pc and 90pc, including ‘green’ mortgages and so-called ‘high-value’ mortgages.
PTSB said the new rates for the 2-year, 3-year, 5-year and 7-year fixed terms in this band – which range from 3.7pc to 4.4pc – are available to both new and existing customers. However the new rate for the 4-year fixed term, of 3.65pc, is only being offered to new customers.
The 80-90pc Loan to Value band is heavily populated by First-Time Buyers, but the banks says the new rates will also be available to people who switch from other lenders and those moving house.
Meanwhile the deposit rate changes take effect from October 1, and apply to the bank’s 6-month, 1-year, 3-year and 5-year fixed-term deposit products.
PTSB’s five-year fixed-term deposit will increase by 0.5pc to 2pc, and the 3-year fixed-term deposit will increase by 0.40pc to 2pc. However the bank’s 1-year and 6-month fixed-term deposit accounts will both decrease by 0.25pc, to 2pc and 1.25pc respectively.
Irish banks have been coming under pressure to pass on some of the benefits of ECB rate cuts to mortgage holders. While the governing council of the bank has held interest rates steady at its last two meetings, this followed a year of progressive reductions totalling 200 basis points.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said last week that the Government should call in the banks to demand that they stop withholding the benefit of lower rates. He accused the Government of “standing by and letting banks rip people”.
“Despite four rate cuts this year, the banks have not passed on the full benefit of even one of those rate cuts yet,” Mr Doherty said. “It is a scandalous cash grab that is hurting households and first-time buyers.”
Last May there was a rate reduction of up to 0.75 percentage points on AIB’s ‘non-green’ fixed-rate mortgages. Its subsidiaries Haven and EBS recently cut rates too.
The banks would argue that while they have not passed on the full benefits of the eight separate ECB rate cuts since June 2024, they didn’t pass on the full pain of the rate increases prior to that when the governing council was struggling to get inflation under control after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Only last week PTSB announced what it said was a major overhaul of its suite of personal loans, including cutting interest rates for most new borrowers. They are now offered on a more simplified structure with just three interest rates linked only to the amount of the loan.
Personal loans of between €1,500 and €9,999 now carry an 8.5pc interest rate – down from a previous 13.4pc.
Loans between €10,000 and €24,999 carry a 6.99pc rate and loans of €25,000 or more carry a 5.99pc rate. The new rates are available to both existing and new customers.