Cross Border Banking and Mortgage Questions

[amallon]

At some stage next year I hope to be starting to build in the North.  I work in the South and do all my banking in the South.

At the moment I'm told I can't use direct debit for UK utility bills from my Southern Bank account.  If I get a mortgage in the North I'd have to lift cash every month and drop it off in person every month to pay my mortgage.  It seems that even if I had Bank of Ireland accounts in Newry and in Dundalk its not possible to transfer £X every month to meet direct debit requirements in the North.  In this day an age I find it hard to believe that this sort of arrangement can't be setup.  Anyone know of a way around this?

Also can I get a mortgage in the South to build a house in the North?

[Hardy]

It's true that for some reason, banks won't do direct debits across jurisdiction boundaries. Neither can you set up a standing order at the paying end. It might be worth checking if you can do it by credit card. I have several monthly business payments to US and UK suppliers that they bill directly to my credit card without any intervention from me. Whether a mortgage company will do this I don't know. If they will, you could then set up a DD to pay your credit card monthly.

[Candyman]

At some stage next year I hope to be starting to build in the North.  I work in the South and do all my banking in the South.

At the moment I'm told I can't use direct debit for UK utility bills from my Southern Bank account.  If I get a mortgage in the North I'd have to lift cash every month and drop it off in person every month to pay my mortgage.  It seems that even if I had Bank of Ireland accounts in Newry and in Dundalk its not possible to transfer £X every month to meet direct debit requirements in the North.  In this day an age I find it hard to believe that this sort of arrangement can't be setup.  Anyone know of a way around this?

Also can I get a mortgage in the South to build a house in the North?

No... you will have to come up north and use a UK lender to build here!!!

[armaghniac]

Amallon, maybe worth poking around the boards at http://www.askaboutmoney.com/

In general politicians would do well to address some of these issues, Paisley would have no problem with practical matters like this being coordinated. With the Euro it will be easier to make a payment to Slovenia than to Newry.

[youbetterbelieveit]

You also got to be careful with regards to mortgage relief, very useful

[DickyRock]

I think banks are currently trying to address this problem at the minute, but suppose it will be a while before it is sorted out

[armaghniac]

I think banks are currently trying to address this problem at the minute, but suppose it will be a while before it is sorted out

Yeah, like, the punt and sterling only parted company 28 years ago, they haven't really had much time to deal with this. 

[amallon]

Cheers for the advice lads.

youbetterbelieveit- Excuse my ignorance but whats the deal with Mortgage relief?  I'm paying all my tax to Bertie, should I be able to get mortgage relief in the south on a northern mortgage?

As for the problem of moving money between north and south its been a real pain in the arse for me for the guts of 10 years now.  All my utility bills are in the north and I have to call them or logon their websites to pay them with credit card every month.  Some like Orange charge me £2/month because I don't use DD.  As armaghniac says this is the sort of useful thing that politicians in our Assembly could be sorting out. 

[deiseach]

I've wondered whether the shoe leather costs (so to speak) of transferring money between jurisdictions would negate any benefits of those in the UK trying to get the lower interest rates we enjoy in the eurozone. Reading amallon's posts, I'd say they probably are.

[amallon]

I'd imagine there are high net worth individuals who the banks would set up this kind of facility for at a moments notice.

deiseach - unless I can pay my northern mortgage by Credit Card/On Line every month I'll be putting in a lot of leather work every month.  I'll need to lift the cash in the south and try and find a time when the mortgage broker is open to go in and pay them.  I don't know if your average mortgage broker will be open on a Saturday or not.  I'm a lazy fecker and thats the sort of hassle I can do with out.

[5 Sams]

Aidan,
I know for a fact that Northern Bank have a better facility than the others for moving money across the border......certainly for cross border businesses. They are using a new IT system introduced by their owners Danske Bank....might be worth giving them a shout....NIB is the sister bank in the South

[amallon]

Cheers 5Sams, I think I have a NB account in Newry with 5p lying in this years.  I'll have to check that one out.

[Smokin Joe]

We use the Northern Bank in work, and I can transfer money to Euro accounts through their internet banking.

So you just have to find out whether their "home" internet banking has this same facility to their "business" internet banking.

[Zapatista]

Also can I get a mortgage in the South to build a house in the North?

I am in a similar situation as you. It's a pain in the arse. You can transfer money across anytime you want but you must physically do it each time, by internet or through the bank or whatever.

As to your question above, there are different laws for different type of property. If it's a business investment (build to rent) it is quite easy to get a mortgage across the border but if it's for personal use it can be much more difficult to get (a real pain in the ass in fact).

[amallon]

If I could do it on the internet I'd be happy enough.  Getting into a bank isn't alway that easy for me.