# First active offset t&c booklet



## Junior79

Hello,
Just wondering has anyone out there the t&c booklet that came with the offset current account mortgage from first active circa 2004/2005?
Trying to move mortgage now to new build and having "issues" to say the least from UB.
Cheers


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## wbbs

Will have a look tomorrow, might have one.  Are you having problems with moving it to the new property?  I always thought UB would try get out of that one but I read on another forum recently of people who were managing to move it as it allows.


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## Junior79

Thanks wbbs, yeah we are building new home and want to bring offset with us. They are making things difficult. Latest they have told us is that you can't move it to a house you are building, only one you are buying.....go figure!


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## cremeegg

Did you get the booklet. I have it if you still need it. My version is dated 4/2/2003

I have had huge problems operating this account since UB took over. The staff just don't seem to be trained in this product.

Having said that you do seem to be asking a lot. The mortgage is secured against the original property, if you sell it it is not unreasonable that they want you to redeem the mortgage.

But you never know. UB haven't a clue when it comes to this product.  

When trying to withdraw funds under the facility arrangement I have (seriously) stood blocking the doorway of my local branch and shouting for all to hear that i wouldn't leave until I got my money.

Instead of calling the guards, they agreed to release the money and I subsequently got an apology and compensation for the delay. That was 3 years ago.

Just recently I withdrew some more money from this account. They sent me about 6 BS letters asking for stuff they were not entitled to or I had already sent them. It took them 6 weeks to make the transfer. I fully expect to be compensated for this delay as well.

Sorry just wanted to get that off my chest.


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## Junior79

Hi cremeegg, thanks for reply, still in talks with UB. Unreal u had all the bother with drawing down facility, we had none! Literally took couple of days for them to get paperwork in order we went in and signed and had money in our account less than week later. It was substantial amount too. Maybe it depends branch to branch


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## wbbs

Cremeegg, not at all unreasonable of Junior79 to be trying to transfer the mortgage after selling the property it was originally secured on.  This was one of the much publicised features of this product, the fact that you could transfer it from property to property without redeeming it.

It is a complex product and there is no doubt that very few UB personnel have any clue about it, your best bet is to find some of the original First Active lending staff which are still in some of the UB branches or in Head Office.   There is someone who posts on the banking & finance forum on Boards that is obviously an employee of UB and seems to know the product very well, I have seen them answer several detailed questions about it before.


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## Busybee1

Hi Cremeegg
I too am looking for the t&c booklet - also having a long ongoing dispute with ulster bank and its handling of our mortgage account 
I would be really grateful for a copy of the booklet if possible?
Thanks a mil


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## RichInSpirit

Might still have t&c's too.
Might take a few weeks to find them though. My broker definitely has them, if I don't. He's meticulous with the paper work.


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## cremeegg

Busybee1 said:


> Hi Cremeegg
> I too am looking for the t&c booklet - also having a long ongoing dispute with ulster bank and its handling of our mortgage account ��
> I would be really grateful for a copy of the booklet if possible?
> Thanks a mil



If you send me your email address I will send you a copy.


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## Benson

*UB Offset Mortgage*

Hi Cremeegg,I was told by Ulster Bank by phone yesterday that the Offset Tracker mortgage is "portable". 
Said it to my local branch manager who seemed to dismiss it
Would like to see if that is stated in the terms and conditions.

Would you happen to have a copy you can share with me.


Many thanks.


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## Monbretia

It definitely is, it can be transferred from property to property without having to redeem it, one of the main features of the product.  Most UB staff have no clue of the workings of this product as they never issued them so I wouldn't take any notice of what your local manager thinks, get them to check with the lending dept in Head Office.


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## Busybee1

Hi Cremeegg 
Thank you so much. 
My email address is  [deleted]


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## Brendan Burgess

Busybee

Probably not a good idea to be putting your email address up in public. I have deleted it and PMd it to CremeEggg.

Brendan


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## rameire

only just noticed this now,

House moves are possible on the offset mortgage.
its a feature of it.
ring the telephony, then ask them to ask their loan offers team can a housemove happen on offset.


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## MasterSmythe

I'm also interested in receiving the T&C booklet, mortgage from 2005


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## Monbretia

What are you trying to check on it?


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## MasterSmythe

Terms relating to drawing down on the additional facility. UB are of the impression that a draw down constitutes "new borrowing" and are requesting certain additional terms that I disagree with and want to check the terms of the additional draw down facility.


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## Brendan Burgess

Hi Master Smythe

Have you looked at your letter of offer or mortgage agreement? 

Brendan


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## Monbretia

I'll have a look at the stuff I have and see if there is any mention.


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## MasterSmythe

Letter of offer is silent on the point, and refers to the the general and special terms and conditions document. 

Ideally I would like to read the full T&C and set out the relevant references in a letter to UB.


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## Monbretia

I have a copy of the First Active Personal Offset Banking Terms and Conditions.   Part C is titled Offset Flexible Mortgage General Conditons (specific conditions are what is on the loan offer).

Under 'Available Facility' it says 'means any monies where there is a difference  between the Faccility and the Total Borrowing and reresents the amount you can withdraw at any time subject to our approval'

Not sure if that is much of a help, there are about 24 pages in booklet.  I can scan a relevant page and email it you later if you tell me what you are looking for, send me pm if you want.  I know this product pretty well


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## Aamuser

Monbretia said:


> I have a copy of the First Active Personal Offset Banking Terms and Conditions.   Part C is titled Offset Flexible Mortgage General Conditons (specific conditions are what is on the loan offer).
> 
> Under 'Available Facility' it says 'means any monies where there is a difference  between the Faccility and the Total Borrowing and reresents the amount you can withdraw at any time subject to our approval'
> 
> Not sure if that is much of a help, there are about 24 pages in booklet.  I can scan a relevant page and email it you later if you tell me what you are looking for, send me pm if you want.  I know this product pretty well





cremeegg said:


> Did you get the booklet. I have it if you still need it. My version is dated 4/2/2003
> 
> I have had huge problems operating this account since UB took over. The staff just don't seem to be trained in this product.
> 
> Having said that you do seem to be asking a lot. The mortgage is secured against the original property, if you sell it it is not unreasonable that they want you to redeem the mortgage.
> 
> But you never know. UB haven't a clue when it comes to this product.
> 
> When trying to withdraw funds under the facility arrangement I have (seriously) stood blocking the doorway of my local branch and shouting for all to hear that i wouldn't leave until I got my money.
> 
> Instead of calling the guards, they agreed to release the money and I subsequently got an apology and compensation for the delay. That was 3 years ago.
> 
> Just recently I withdrew some more money from this account. They sent me about 6 BS letters asking for stuff they were not entitled to or I had already sent them. It took them 6 weeks to make the transfer. I fully expect to be compensated for this delay as well.
> 
> Sorry just wanted to get that off my chest.



Hi Cremeegg - Do you still have a copy of the offset t&cs? We are looking to move home and have a FA offset facility account, be really helpful if I could get a copy. Thanks.


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## johnnyjt

Hi,
  Do you still have the booklet? I am in the process of trading up and want to check the exact details of my rights in regards to keeping my tracker rate. 

Thanks


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## Brojo20

Hi Monbretia
Late to the party but also looking for a copy of the T&C booklet.  Could you email me a copy?  I am new on here and cannot pm you.  TIA


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## Monbretia

Which part are you trying to check?  There are 24 pages in booklet, most of it just general stuff.


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## scatmanjohn

Hi
I am also trying to get a look at the t&cs booklet 2003 as I am getting nowhere with Ulster Bank. I am interested particularly in the Home Move section. Any help would be really apprectiated.


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## cremeegg

Hi 
AFAIK UB dont have the booklet. I do, but I don't see a Home Move section


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## scatmanjohn

Thank you for looking for me cremeegg. 

I guess I'll just have to persevere with Ulsterbank. Currently waiting on them to get in touch with someone familiar with this mortgage to give me a call.
I'm in the same situation as the OP. Would love to know how they got on in the end, but the post is 6 years old.


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## Monbretia

Mmmm, it shoud be irrelevant what it's for but if you want to give a reason then definitely being used for doing up the house, you could run into problems with the investment property reason as those mortgages are meant to be ppr only.  No point giving them a reason to say no!


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## Puddle duck

I agree it should be irrelevant too but not taking any risks....extension, bathroom and kitchen it is! I'll keep my own lump sum for the other property. Thanks for your help.


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## Monbretia

I had no problem with drawdown once I provided copy of life cover, it was very quick, didn't ask what I wanted it for or any evidence of income which is correct of course.  It actually was in my account days before I even got a letter confirming the details.  Of course it's a bad deal for UB as the drawdown will be at tracker rate so they hardly want to be giving out more of that!


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## RichInSpirit

Very interesting Monbretia and Puddle Duck.
Are you both talking about drawing down a bit of a tracker mortgage that was OKed originally but wasn't drawn down previously? It's 10 to 15 years ago since these mortgages were offered. I was under the impression that any unused part of it would time out much quicker than that.


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## Puddle duck

It is an old First Active offset mortgage ....which also has a tracker rate, the product allows for a drawdown which is detailed in your statement letter.


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## Monbretia

RichInSpirit said:


> Very interesting Monbretia and Puddle Duck.
> Are you both talking about drawing down a bit of a tracker mortgage that was OKed originally but wasn't drawn down previously? It's 10 to 15 years ago since these mortgages were offered. I was under the impression that any unused part of it would time out much quicker than that.



A feature of the Offset/Current Account Mortgage was that as your balance decreases you could draw down again  what is called the available facility amount, it is not exactly what you have paid off, it goes down periodically but there is usually an amount there to re-draw as such, the newly drawdown money is at the same tracker rate of 1.15% over ECB as original mortgage.   The repayments obviously go up when you drawdown extra and you must have lifecover in place to cover the new drawdown.

It was a fantastic mortgage type, I haven't paid interest in years on mine as any money you hold in the current account attached to it 'offsets' the interest charged on the mortgage amount.


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## Puddle duck

I dunno who designed the product but I would like to thank them  I'm still waiting to hear back about my drawdown, they mentioned i may be asked to provide estimates for my planned home improvements.


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## Coldwarrior

Puddle duck said:


> I'm still waiting to hear back about my drawdown, they mentioned i may be asked to provide estimates for my planned home improvements.


Sounds like they are treating this as a top up mortgage not an offset? The staff member you're dealing with may not be familar with offsets as they haven't been offered for over a decade.


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## Monbretia

Requests go straight to lending in HO though and I'd imagine there must be someone up there who knows how it's done, hard to mix up with a top up as there is no application form like a top up.  I just sent in one liner requesting drawdown of x amount of available facility and copy of life cover.  Not a question was asked and the funds were just lodged to my offset current account very quickly.


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## Puddle duck

Quick update, I received my funds yesterday. While it took way longer than I expected (20 days instead of 5 days) and required lots of complaining - I am happy to have received it. Posting so people are aware they do get processed eventually even in 2020!


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## Monbretia

Very good  

I had a look through the booklets I have and it makes no mention at all of it but it's more a T&Cs booklet for the operation of the offset accounts attached rather than the mortgage itself.  The mortgage related booklet I have is definitely not the full original one, I think it was just the one issued when they were changed from current account mortgage to offset mortgage as there was a couple of small changes in the way it worked.


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## Donald

Junior79 said:


> Hello,
> Just wondering has anyone out there the t&c booklet that came with the offset current account mortgage from first active circa 2004/2005?
> Trying to move mortgage now to new build and having "issues" to say the least from UB.
> Cheers


looking for terms and conditions for first active offset flex mortgage any help greatly accepted foleyportumna@gmail.com


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## Donald

Monbretia said:


> Very good
> 
> I had a look through the booklets I have and it makes no mention at all of it but it's more a T&Cs booklet for the operation of the offset accounts attached rather than the mortgage itself.  The mortgage related booklet I have is definitely not the full original one, I think it was just the one issued when they were changed from current account mortgage to offset mortgage as there was a couple of small changes in the way it worked.


looking for terms and conditions for first active offset flex mortgage any help greatly accepted foleyportumna@gmail.com


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## Donald

wbbs said:


> Will have a look tomorrow, might have one.  Are you having problems with moving it to the new property?  I always thought UB would try get out of that one but I read on another forum recently of people who were managing to move it as it allows.


looking for terms and conditions for first active offset flex mortgage any help greatly accepted foleyportumna@gmail.com


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## Donald

cremeegg said:


> Did you get the booklet. I have it if you still need it. My version is dated 4/2/2003
> 
> I have had huge problems operating this account since UB took over. The staff just don't seem to be trained in this product.
> 
> Having said that you do seem to be asking a lot. The mortgage is secured against the original property, if you sell it it is not unreasonable that they want you to redeem the mortgage.
> 
> But you never know. UB haven't a clue when it comes to this product.
> 
> When trying to withdraw funds under the facility arrangement I have (seriously) stood blocking the doorway of my local branch and shouting for all to hear that i wouldn't leave until I got my money.
> 
> Instead of calling the guards, they agreed to release the money and I subsequently got an apology and compensation for the delay. That was 3 years ago.
> 
> Just recently I withdrew some more money from this account. They sent me about 6 BS letters asking for stuff they were not entitled to or I had already sent them. It took them 6 weeks to make the transfer. I fully expect to be compensated for this delay as well.
> 
> Sorry just wanted to get that off my chest.


looking for terms and conditions for first active offset flex mortgage any help greatly accepted foleyportumna@gmail.com


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## Monbretia

Donald said:


> looking for terms and conditions for first active offset flex mortgage any help greatly accepted foleyportumna@gmail.com


What particular aspect of it are you looking for, there is a lot of pages in the booklet and a lot of it just definitions of this and that.   If I have the relevant section I can scan it and send to you.


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## FinancialQ

We tried to move our offset tracker to another property but Ulster Bank said that as our circumstances had changed such that we didn't meet their criteria to be given a new mortgage they didn't have to agree to let us take this one with us. I was looking to take less than the current balance and for a shorter term than what is remaining. We have lodged a complaint and received a final response letter and our next step is the FSO. Has anyone heard of a similar case, and if so, do you know how it ended up.


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## rameire

was this property a new one to you or one one you already had a mortgage on or owned?


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## FinancialQ

rameire said:


> was this property a new one to you or one one you already had a mortgage on or owned?


We had our mortgage with First Active on our home which was our only house which we took out in 2008. We decided to downsize but Ulster Bank maintain that they don't have to allow this. We have a copy of our terms and conditions from 2008 but not sure if they have them. We have asked for a copy of the T&C's that they are using three times but they keep sending us later ones where the wording has changed. Before going to the FSO we are going to ask for a copy of our offer letter to see do they have that even though we have a copy. It seems to me that they really don't know how this product works and are hoping we will just give up, but that's not going to happen. I work in a bank and have dealt with mortgages for years so I know what they are saying doesn't make sense. We have already downsized with another Bank at a higher rate so now have all the time in the world to see this through.


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## rameire

Sorry I prob didn't get across what I was trying to ask or I may be misunderstanding you.
You want to downsize and move your offset.
Do you already own or have a mortgage on the property you want to downsize to and apply the offset mortgage to?

Or is this property you want to move the offset to new to you?


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## FinancialQ

rameire said:


> Sorry I prob didn't get across what I was trying to ask or I may be misunderstanding you.
> You want to downsize and move your offset.
> Do you already own or have a mortgage on the property you want to downsize to and apply the offset mortgage to?
> 
> Or is this property you want to move the offset to new to you?


We were looking to sell our house and buy a Completely new one and transfer our offset mortgage to the new house. As Ulster Bank would not agree to this we had to sell our house and get a Mortgage from a different bank on the new house. At this stage it will be compensation we will be looking for as we no longer have a tracker rate and so will be paying a lot more over the term of the mortgage.


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## Emma LB

cremeegg said:


> If you send me your email address I will send you a copy.


Hi there, please could I get a copy of the First Active T&C's if you have them? My mortgage was with them too


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## Emma LB

Junior79 said:


> Hello,
> Just wondering has anyone out there the t&c booklet that came with the offset current account mortgage from first active circa 2004/2005?
> Trying to move mortgage now to new build and having "issues" to say the least from UB.
> Cheers


Hi just wondering if you ever had any luck with getting a copy of first active t&c booklet ?


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## Emma LB

Donald said:


> looking for terms and conditions for first active offset flex mortgage any help greatly accepted foleyportumna@gmail.com


Hi there, did any of you manage to get a copy of the first active t&c s. If so, could you help me with getting a copy too? Please and thank you very much.


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