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A VICTIM OF the tracker mortgage scandal has expressed her frustration at her treatment by Bank of Ireland after it informed her she had been overcharged for years on her home loan.
It emerged last year that financial institutions in Ireland had charged thousands of customers denied tracker rates and charged higher interest rates than stipulated in their agreements. The Central Bank estimates almost 10,000 accounts have been impacted.
The woman, who does not wish to be named, told TheJournal.ie that she was first told of the overcharging on her account in December last year.
“In my case, it had been for a little over eight years. It was the usual story, I switched to a fixed rate in 2006 when interest rates were rising. When they came back down, I asked to go back on it, but I was denied the right to return to a tracker,” she explained.
The bank’s initial letter, seen by TheJournal.ie, states the customer had “been charged an incorrect rate of interest on your mortgage for a period of time”.
It adds that it will move her to the tracker rate set out in her mortgage documentation “to ensure that you do not experience any further detriment as a result of our failure”.
The letter also said the bank would write to update her in February 2017 to provide an update on:
The explanation of the exact circumstances that caused our failure in the first place
Any redress and compensation that may be due to you once finalised
Details of a payment towards the cost of independent professional advice that you may wish to seek
The independent appeals process that will be available to you.
The letter she received in February contained none of this information.
Instead, it stated that, “given the scale and complexity of this examination, your mortgage account remains under review and this work is still ongoing”.
The bank informed her that once her account had been fully reviewed, it would write to her with an update on the four points it referenced in its initial letter.
“I was eagerly awaiting that letter in February but there was nothing in it, it was just a fob-off. There has been nothing in the way of an update since. So, I thought I’d give them six months [from the first letter] and I rang last week looking for an update. There was no information, I was just completely stonewalled,” she said.
“They said it may not be until the end of this year now. I just got so mad, they just don’t seem to get the disruption it caused in people’s lives – there doesn’t seem to be an urgency to refund people’s own money.”
‘Struggling’
The woman has estimated she is owed as much as €15,000.
“It’s a load of money that I could have earmarked for other things,” she said. During the period of time she was overcharged, her mother was suffering from dementia and she had to pay for home care for two years.
“I’m a public sector worker, so I’m not badly paid, but I wouldn’t have spare cash to spend. From month-to-month I was genuinely struggling I had enough stress going on at that time without having to worry about my finances. And my story is nothing compared to what some people went through – some people lost their homes.”
She said she believes financial institutions who overcharged their customers need to be held to account, both by the Central Bank and by the country’s politicians.
“If I owed them that amount, or was six months in arrears, they’d be ringing me every day. When I ring them once in six months for an update, they treat me like an inconvenience,” she said.
“It’s frustrating when you consider how much money we put into those banks.”
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie about progress with its redress scheme, Bank of Ireland referred back to a statement in made in December last year.
This statement from six months ago stated the bank had identified 602 accounts where a right to, or the option of, a tracker rate of interest was not provided to the customer in accordance with their loan documentation.
It also identified 3,916 accounts on a tracker rate that was not the rate specified in their loan agreement. The bank offered its apologies to affected customers and committed to commencing with refunds in the first quarter of this year.
If you have been affected by the tracker mortgage scandal, we want to hear your story. Get in touch by sending a message to trackermortgage@thejournal.ie.
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And that was a party political article on behalf of the Fine Gael party!
@Anthony Curran: scroll down and you’ll have the SF political article featuring Mary Sue
@Liam23: Mary Sue, Brilliant
@Anthony Curran: and the journal,,
@james rowan: the journal so one sided we can comment on this fg article but we cant comment on the Mary Lou article above,,,
Why is leo getting so much press from the journal?? He is intending on making a run for president in the future?? Seems like he is settling himself up for it
@and the hit’s just keep coming: he’s about as likeable as a mouth ulcer on your tongue that keep rubbing off your teeth
@and the hit’s just keep coming: he had his chance.. drank from the poison chalice … wudnt send him for a bag of chips.. all mouth now..
@and the hit’s just keep coming: Exactly, I have said as much myself in the past. He is following the exact same strategy that got him to the position of Taoiseach, giving statements and releasing soundbites on everything and anything, just to promote his brand and keep himself in the news and recognisable.
While actually having nothing of value to say on them, much less anything of value to contribute in response to them.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: Comment says more about the mentality of SF supporters than it does about about Leo Varadkar.
What’s the story will all the leo posts? Haven’t we suffered enough of this gombeen already?
@Damien Leahy: im glad im not the only one can see he is getting a lot of free press for some reason
Leo, nobody likes you. Stay safe.
@Paul Gorry: a little bit ominous no??…
@Donna Fallon: Sure you’re living in a tent, i seem to remember Donna? Did Leo come good for you?
Great puff piece for the party that gave print media and associated online media 0% tax to pay. Keep em happy. Good job.
Leo your forehead is after getting very tall.
On Friday:
Nationalists/Independents ✅✅✅
Woke Zombies (FF, FG, G, SF, PBP, LAB, SD)✖️✖️✖️
I think Varadkar is going for the Michael D ”hairy mudguards over the ears” look.
Áras, here we come!
@Finn Barr: ‘Nationalists’ put Fine Gael back to the top of the polls, lol!
@Finn Barr: woke zombies all the way over the “nationalist” traitors!
@Finn Barr: I agree, he’s probably after a piece of Aras!
Who believes this fella, when he took over from enda Kenny, he scraped in and they had to form a government with their sworn enemies… what an absolute bluffer… never lost it never will
When Leo wakes up in the morning, Christina Finn is waiting at the end of his bed to ask if she can write another puff piece about him and / or Fine Gael.
What energy has he brought he’s boring snivelling useless like all before him
And nobody mentioned immigration.
This isn’t Journalism its propaganda
FG and FF should officially join forces and become one party. There is zero difference between them now, and they have been great bedfellows in government in destroying the country. A vote for FG is a vote for FF and vice versa.
Whilst I am not the greatest fan of Leo Varadkar, it amuses me that he gets so much grief on here for being useless. He has made more of his life and achieved beyond anything his immature detractors on here ever will. Like him or not, he puts all of you to shame and stands head and shoulders above you all.
@Sun Rise: You’re correct he gets a lot of grief for being useless. It amuses you that he gets so much said grief? Jaysus h christ STOP with that nonsense.
“What about the children Leo?” …….Trump is a bad man…..
Leo made more of his life than all the useless keyboard warriors on here
@Peter Byrne: says the useless keyboard warrior peter Byrne.
Did a bad job in government but lets vote him president. As ff and fg can do no wrong but sinn never in government getting alot bad publicity. Lets not forgot the state country and that man was part of it.
Anyone who gives a preference for ff, fg, liebour sinn Fein social democrats people before profit need accept everything they get from these traitor’s
Varadkar did a runner & left a mess behind, but cant leave the limelight & is back again telling everyone how to run things. He abandoned the stage, he shouldn’t be getting any airtime, he had his chance & his legacy will be how he abandoned those who get up for work every morning, the very ones he said he supported. Don’t want to hear or see his face again.
Sadly K O . Sinnfein are the only party big enough to challenge these shower. Do not trust impedance who they get money from to run and then when in if get in too small to challenge sad but is true. 100 years enough need give sinnfein chance then judge them
Coffeesaoich.
He’s a complete disgrace to this country and so is everyone in FG who backed Regina Doherty, normalising her another proud Thatcherite. Officially too scared of his constituents not to just run for cover and was a horrible Taoiseach
have your say