LABOUR TD KENNY CALLS FOR INTEREST RATE CUTS TO BE PASSED ON

Posted on November 9, 2011 5:02 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin North East Labour Party TD Sean Kenny today welcomed the decision by the Housing Finance Agency to pass on the 0.25% decrease in the rate charged to local authority mortgage holders, decreasing the rate from 3.25% to 3.00%. The move will effect savings of €14 in monthly repayments on a 30-year loan of €100,000.

"I warmly welcome move by the Housing Finance Agency, which will go some way to alleviating the pressures faced by local authority mortgage holders. While these borrowers have benefited from a range of measures and have always been favoured with the extremely good value from local authorities and in turn from the Housing Finance Agency, the pressures they face in meeting monthly mortgage repayments are real too. The interest rate on local authority housing loans is determined by the cost of funds available to the Housing Finance Agency, which is determined by rates prevailing in the financial markets. The reduction in interest rates recently announced by the European Central Bank has led to this reduction in interest.

"I hope the announcement will encourage the remaining lending institutions that have not made a decision to pass on the rate decrease to move to do so immediately. I was disgusted to hear that National Irish Bank was in fact increasing their variable interest rates, which I think is wrong. I urge them to reconsider their position on this, and I think that if lending institutions do not reduce interest rates in line with the European Central Bank in the future, then the Government should introduce legislation that requires them to do so."