Tánaiste Éamon Gilmore has rejected opposition calls for the Government to intervene in AIB’s decision to raise mortgage interest rates.
AIB announced earlier this week that it was adding 0.4 percentage points to its standard variable mortgage rate, and raising variable rates at subsidiary EBS and its broker-led arm Haven by 0.25 percentage points.
“The announcement by AIB that it is increasing the standard variable mortgage rate and a similar announcement by EBS is of course bad news for mortgage holders, there is no doubt but…that is a commercial decision that is made by those two institutions,” he told the Dáil under questioning from the opposition.
There has been sharp criticism of AIB’s move which will see some 70,000 AIB mortgage-holders face an average extra annual bill of close to €300 after the bank raised its interest rates from the start of June.
Source: Gilmore rejects call to intervene in AIB rate hike (The Irish Times)
