Aideen Finnegan

What if you've changed jobs and you're on a higher salary now and you've decided, right, I'm going to, you know, siphon off an extra 200, 300 euro a month to pay the mortgage.

What about doing that regularly?

Okay.

Does fixing lock you out of a lot of flexible options like that?

Are there things you can't do when you fix?

Yes.

Yeah.

I know you're not a big fan of saying how much or what percentage of my income should be spent on X, Y and Z. However, if somebody came to you and they had X percent of their income on their mortgage every month, would you be going, you are pushing the boundaries there of what's affordable?

Okay, excellent.

On the issue of fixed term, a lot of people might be coming off a five-year term now and it's a whole different ballgame.

We have a completely different economic climate.

The year of low interest rates

appears to be over.

Can you give us an overview of where we're at?

Because of everything that's going on in the Middle East.

Would you be mad to opt for variable in that context?

Coming up, we're all told to shop around, but how much does switching mortgages cost and what can it really save you in the long term?

Should you always opt for the longest term possible?

Yeah, like if you're fixing for another couple of years, should you do the 1, 3, 5?

Should it usually be the upper end?