Avant Money, the Irish unit of Spanish bank Bankinter, has unveiled a series of improvements to its mortgage offering.
The updated range includes lower fixed-rate options, an enhanced cashback offer and a new high-value mortgage designed to reduce the cost of borrowing on larger loans.
These new options add to the lender’s existing mortgage range, which includes One Mortgage, which allows customers to fix their rate for the full term, and Flex Mortgage, a variable rate linked to Euribor and currently the lowest-rate variable mortgage product available in Ireland.
Avant Money head of mortgages Brian Lande said January is “an ideal time” for customers to reassess what is often their largest monthly expense.
“These enhancements give home movers, first-time buyers and mortgage holders who are considering switching a strong reason to review their mortgage options and an opportunity to save more in 2026,” he said.
“Our enhanced cashback can help offset upfront costs and free up funds for other priorities, whilst the lower rates support longer-term financial planning.
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“We are pleased to introduce our new High-Value Mortgage for those customers who require a larger mortgage. This mortgage will be available for all properties and is not restricted to higher Ber ratings.
“Repayments on a mortgage of €500,000 with less than 60 per cent loan-to-value over 30 years at 3.2 per cent will now be €660 lower per year compared to the existing four-year fixed rate. Alternatively, choosing a cashback-eligible product would offer cashback of €10,000.”
The rate changes are effective for new mortgage drawdowns from January 19th.
Avant Money is part of Bankinter, one of Europe’s leading banking groups. Operating in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Luxembourg, the group has access to cheap deposits unlike non-bank lenders such as ICS Mortgages and Spry Finance.
Avant, led by chief executive Niall Corbett, offers a range of financial products in Ireland, including credit cards, personal loans and residential mortgages. It has more than 220,000 customers here, with more than 300 staff across its office in Carrick-on-Shannon and Dublin.
The move to improve its mortgage offering comes a day after ICS said it was raising fixed home loan rates by as much as 0.45 of a percentage point, stoking fears this could be the beginning of a fresh wave of hikes for Irish homeowners.
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The move follows an increase in its market funding costs in recent months as financial markets price in the prospect of the next rates move from the European Central Bank being upward.
The revised rates, ranging from 0.1 per cent to 0.45 per cent for owner-occupiers, depending on loan-to-value banks, will apply to ICS’s three-year and five-year fixed rates products from January 9th, said the brand, which is owned parent Dilosk.
Meanwhile, Bunq, Europe’s second-largest neobank has applied to become a US bank two years after rescinding a previous application under former president Joe Biden.
“We believe that this is a unique opportunity for us,” founder and chief executive officer Ali Niknam said in an interview. The company said it submitted its application for a national bank charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Tuesday.
