Johnny Håvik is tired of the bank not keeping up with the class and is threatening to change banks. It can save him large sums.
Håvik is a special adviser in the LO union Industri Energi. In January 2019, he moved into a new house on Kløfta and then took out a mortgage in SpareBank 1 SR-Bank. The loan is currently NOK 2.7 million, and Håvik believes the home is worth about twice as much. The security for the bank is therefore good.
– I last renegotiated the interest rate when I bought a new house just over 2.5 years ago. At the time, I was quite clear with the bank that I, as a lifelong customer, LO member with secure finances and a house that today is worth almost double the loan, expected to avoid having to call to constantly worry about interest rates.
– I got the answer that the interest rate should of course be adjusted, so that it continued to be as favorable as when I took out the loan, Håvik says to Nettavisen.
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2 percent
But the effective interest rate on Håvik’s loans today, before an expected interest rate increase, is 2.01 per cent. It is far above the best deals in the market. An average mortgage rate is typically 1.75 per cent, according to figures from Statistics Norway.
In recent years, Norwegian borrowers have been spoiled by record low interest rates. Håvik says that if you walk around daily and think about a mortgage rate of 2 percent, it does not sound loud. But now he is considering switching to SpareBank 1 Østlandet, which entices with an effective interest rate of a low 1.42 percent.
Håvik has calculated that it will provide an annual saving of NOK 15,500 a year, almost NOK 200,000 over the term of the loan.
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Artificial lot
– What is your experience of what has happened?
– That you get a good interest rate when you raise the issue with the bank. The problem is the time you do not follow the interest rate and artificially pay a lot. Had it been a matter of a few hundred bucks, it would not have been a big deal.
– But 15,000 kroner a year is for me large sums and has gone to nothing. It’s money you do not get anything extra for. Imagine if they were not only saved, but for example invested in funds or used for extra repayment, he says.
Håvik is upset that the high interest expenses instead go directly into extra profits to the bank, without them having to deliver anything extra.
Sad
The online newspaper has presented the essence of the criticism to SR-Bank. Information manager Ruth Siri Espedal Lycke in SpareBank 1 SR-Bank writes in an e-mail to Nettavisen that the bank can not go into details on customer relationships. But on a general basis, Lycke says it is sad to hear that the customer has not had a good customer experience with them.
She says SR-Bank should follow up our customers properly and thinks it is stupid if it has not happened here. Lycke writes that they can understand that it can be disappointing to contact the bank and hear that we are waiting to make changes to customers’ interest rates pending a possible interest rate hike from Norges Bank.
The bank does this to prevent the customer from having to adjust their interest rate several times in a short time in different directions.
“Our prices must be competitive compared to other banks, we do not recognize ourselves in the description of operating with lure offers,” the information manager writes in the e-mail.
Also read: Now your loan is getting more expensive – and this is just the beginning
Independent banks
When asked what Håvik is doing now, he answers:
– I do not yet know what the result will be, but I have informed them that the offer must be at least equivalent to what I can get within the same group. Otherwise, there will be a bank change for the first time, and SR-Bank has promised to get back to me.
It must be said that the SpareBank 1 banks are an alliance and not a group. LO has an offer through the alliance, including with the collective agreement LO Favør. The SpareBank 1 banks still compete as independent banks for customers and do not have equal conditions.
I Finansportalen.no SR-Bank is listed with an effective interest rate of 1.98 per cent for a loan of 3 million, given a loan-to-value ratio within 75 per cent of the home’s estimated value.
According to the portal, SpareBank 1 Østlandet offers 2.08 per cent, but a low 1.34 per cent through the Nybygger.no concept. This presupposes that the customer uses the self-service, all-digital offer to the bank. An interest rate of 1.42 percent must be seen in the light of this concept.
Read also: New survey: This is the form of loan that Norwegians abhor
Inspired
Håvik was also inspired to ask for a better interest rate from Nettavisen’s recent case that loan customers should pay close attention to the wording used by banks when raising interest rates. The word “until” is central. So far, most banks that have announced interest rate increases have used this wording.
– I read the case and used Renteradar.no to check the competitors, and it can be a good hourly rate. When I contact SR-Bank, they are nice and accommodating, but I have not received any concrete promise.
Sindre Noss in Renteradar.no says Håvik is not alone in experiencing deteriorating conditions beyond the term of the loan.
From good to bad
– We see that many who have tested our service are often promised good interest rates in the future. But in the course of two to three years, very many people go from having a good interest rate to a bad interest rate.
– The last week I have received emails from 12-13 users who have negotiated with their bank. One has received 1 percentage point in lower interest rates and saves 16,000 kroner a year, often our users save 5000-15,000 kroner, says Noss.
Håvik believes that no matter what SR-Bank answers, he will be able to achieve a much better interest rate.
Much more
– One thing is what the banks do when Norges Bank adjusts the interest rate, but with my long-term customer relationship, I think that for two years I have paid much more than I should have done.
Håvik has been a customer of Kvinnherad Sparebank all his life, which was later taken over by SR-Bank.
– I always paid the due date, and it is a safe mortgage, he says about the customer relationship.
Håvik therefore thinks that SR-Bank has actually treated him badly, and it should count that he has been a loyal customer for many years.
– Good customers must not have to follow the conditions in the market. But my interest rate has thus lagged far behind without any justification.
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