How they compare:
Family Money asked the main lenders what kind of deal they could offer a newly married couple in their early 30s borrowing £50,000. They are buying a small house in the midlands valued at £75,000. Neither smokes or has a history of serious illness.
They are taking out a 20-year variable annuity mortgage. The following figures include life cover policies and house insurance, which can vary greatly. Most of the insurance figures are based on re-building costs of £50,000 and presume the house is fully alarmed. The interest rates were those applying at the time of going to print.
Irish Permanent: The monthly repayments with the Irish Permanent come to £387.65 and its level life cover policy costs £20.23 a month. Its house insurance product involves monthly repayments of £5.95 a month, although this does not include contents. Total monthly repayments come to £413.83 or £4,965.96 a year.
First National: On a £50,000 mortgage the monthly repayment is £402.80 or £4,833 annually. The building society offers its level life cover policy at £13.31 a month. Its house insurance product comes in at £6.66 a month, excluding contents. Under this example total monthly repayments would be £422.77 or £5,073.24 annually.
TSB: TSB's variable rate means monthly repayments of £399.50 per month or £4,794 a year. It does not sell its own life cover product and its house insurance comes to £8.63 a month or £103.56 a year. So excluding life cover, the monthly repayment comes to £408.13 or £4,897.56 annually. AIB: Its current variable rate means monthly repayments of £394. Its diminishing life cover policy is £10.03 per month, which amounts to £120.36 a year. AIB says its house insurance products vary widely depending on the location of the customer. In Dublin satellite towns like Ashbourne, Bray, Celbridge, Leixlip and Maynooth insurance comes to approximately £15 a month. It is about £12 for the rest of the country. This is based on a rebuilding cost of £60,000.
Total monthly repayments would come to approximately £416 or £4,992 annually.
Bank of Ireland: Bank of Ireland's 20-year variable mortgage involves monthly repayments of £398.50. Its diminishing life cover policy, sold through Lifetime, is £10.70 a month. Its home insurance policy comes in at between £6 and £7 a month, so overall monthly repayments would be about £416 or £4,994 annually.
ICS: A 20-year variable mortgage means £402.50 in monthly repayments. It offers customers several life cover policies and quoted its Guardian diminishing life cover policy at £7.54 a month and a corresponding product from Friends Provident at £10.98 a month.
It offers a building and contents insurance product at £7.61 a month. The overall monthly repayments depend on which life cover policy is taken. The cheapest monthly repayment would be approximately £417.65 or £5,011.80.
EBS: Its 20-year variable mortgage involves monthly repayments of £361.11. On top of this a borrower can avail of Guardian Life's reducing life insurance policy which will cost them £7.20 a month. Its house insurance policy comes in at £21.55, for buildings and contents. The total monthly re-payment is £389.86 or £4,678.32p per annum. The insurance in this case is based on rebuilding costs of £75,000.
Irish Nationwide: The monthly repayments would be £371, with £11.26 the monthly cost of level life cover policy. Its home insurance policy, not including contents, comes to £5.44 a month. So the total monthly repayment would be £387.70 or £4,652 annually.
