Bank of Ireland have announced that, in line with Central Bank of Ireland guidelines, it has launched a range of new product features that will allow much greater numbers of customers in negative equity to move home.

They are:

•Trade Up Negative Equity – this will enable customers who are in negative equity to sell their current home and move to a higher value property, carrying over an amount of negative equity to the new mortgage. This may be suited for customers who need to move home for work reasons, or those with a growing family who need to move to a larger home.

•Trade Down Negative Equity - this will enable customers who are in negative equity to sell their current home and move to a lower value property, while carrying an amount of negative equity to the new mortgage. This may suit customers whose children have grown up and moved out of home.

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In order to avail of these new product features, customers will undergo a full assessment and will have demonstrated that they can afford the new mortgage.

Commenting on the launch of the new product features, Jonathan Byrne, Head of Mortgages ROI, said: "In a changing mortgage market, the best providers will meet the needs of customers by being innovative and flexible, and delivering options such as these, that really do make a difference. The majority of our customers are not in financial difficulty but some of those who purchased homes, particularly in the last six or seven years, are currently in negative equity. Whilst this is only a problem for those who want or need to move, some customers may have experienced changes in their lifestyles such as getting married, having children or changing jobs, and now need to move home. Many of these customers can afford the new repayments associated with a new mortgage but the negative equity was previously blocking their move. We are now positioned to help more of our customers who find themselves in this situation, and who can afford the new mortgage, to carry out property transactions."

These new features will be available to existing Bank of Ireland mortgage customers from today, 19th April.