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After the rise of the Euribor, the OCU offers some better mortgages

Euribor is still rising. Its steady rise reached 3.5% at the end of February, something not seen in almost 15 years, particularly since November 2008.

In this situation, people who have a variable mortgage at their next review date will notice that their repayments will increase by hundreds of euros per month.

According to estimates, the installment will go up by around 190 euros for every €100,000 of outstanding capital, or 2,280 euros more per year for every €100,000.

A mortgage novation, moving from a variable to a fixed mortgage, could be a solution. According to Law 5/2019 of 15 March, which regulates real estate credit contracts, this modification is free of charge if the loan was made more than three years ago.

However, for the time being, if you change the type of mortgage, thanks to a government measure (which will be in force until the end of the year), you do not have to pay any commission to the bank with which you take out the mortgage.

Unattractive fixed-rate mortgages on offer

The issue is that it is currently "impossible to take out 15-year fixed-rate mortgages with an annual nominal interest rate of less than 2 percent", which makes the offer unattractive, as the Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) points out on its website.

In any case, the OCU has a mortgage loan comparator that filters more than 160 types according to the customer's preferences to find the best mortgages.

To determine the best mortgage for each situation, the tool asks for the following data: the amount to be requested, the term (in years), the purpose of the loan (new or subrogation), and the type of loan (fixed or variable).

After receiving the requested information, the comparator presents the options that best fit the requested characteristics. The results highlight the best offer and detail how much money you would save compared to the typical cost of loans that fit the selected criteria.