# Bank of Ireland statement on trackers



## LadyHB (25 Oct 2017)

* October 2017*


*BANK OF IRELAND CEO PERSONALLY COMMITS TO RESOLVING TRACKER MORTGAGE ISSUE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE*
Bank of Ireland has today provided an update in relation to the Tracker Mortgage Examination, and has set out a firm timeline for writing to customers regarding compensation.


*Right to Tracker:* Bank of Ireland has identified c.600 accounts where a right to, or the option of, a tracker rate of interest was not appropriately provided to the customer in accordance with their loan documentation. Customers from this group were returned to the correct rate between December 2016 and April 2017 and they will shortly receive compensation.
*Rate Differential:* The Bank has also identified a small rate differential, of an average 0.15%, on c.3,700 accounts on a tracker rate of interest which was not the appropriate rate specified in the account loan documentation. Customers from this group were returned to the correct rate between March 2016 and August 2017 and they will shortly receive compensation.
*Next Steps:* Bank of Ireland will start the compensation process for these c. 4,300 customers from 10 November. This will involve calling and writing to customers from that date setting out a full offer of compensation in each case, and advising customers of the options which are open to them.
Our process aims to compensate all customers, subject to their agreement, by the end of the year. The Bank, in line with the requirements of the Central Bank’s Tracker Examination Framework, will continue to review whether other customers should be included in the compensation process. This review will be undertaken from a customer and franchise perspective. The Bank is prioritising this review and a further update will be issued in mid-November.
Francesca McDonagh, Group Chief Executive, Bank of Ireland said:

_“I unreservedly apologise to all impacted customers for the financial loss and anxiety this has caused them and their families. I am fully committed to fixing this as quickly as possible, and I made this commitment to the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, at our meeting on Monday._

_“Since taking up my position as Group Chief Executive earlier this month, the tracker issue has been a personal priority. We have already returned impacted customers to their correct tracker rates. Our focus now is on commencing the compensation process to all impacted customers from 10 November. How we handle this critical issue will define the customer centric culture we aspire to at Bank of Ireland._

_“All impacted customers must be identified as quickly as possible and treated fairly. I have reviewed the programme and directed that additional resources are allocated to deliver for our customers. The examination will continue to be a priority until the position has been resolved for every last impacted Bank of Ireland customer.”_


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## skinnylegs (25 Oct 2017)

"All impacted customers must be identified as quickly as possible". 
Are they at least openly admitting that they will identify more impacted customers? Progress?


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## LadyHB (25 Oct 2017)

I’m not particularly encouraged by this at all. I think it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors and very carefully chosen words.

They’re still at loggerheads with the Central Bank and I don’t see any reference to them recognising or even acknowledging disputed cohorts.

It’s all very loose and non-committal for anyone outside the 602 already agreed on.

I hope the politicians and media have the wherewithal to see through this.


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## Elizabeth t (25 Oct 2017)

1800 staff also impacted and no mention of this...


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## todo (25 Oct 2017)

Is there any way we can force bank of ireland to review a mortgage under the central bank review. If not I can't see how they will find all effected customers. 
They are openly deeming previously disputed mortgages out of scope.


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## nonie (25 Oct 2017)

Only 600 accounts impacted. No staff accounts impacted either. No mention of ongoing review of any more cohorts. What now...


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## Thomas (25 Oct 2017)

Central bank said 7000 in Dispute and banks need to close out on them by November and report issuing mid December - may be part of that group


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## Sadhbs (25 Oct 2017)

BOI are saying that all impacted customers have been returned to the correct tracker rate in one paragraph. THEN they say that all impacted customers need to be identified as soon as possible Does anyone out there understand this statement and what this means for the 1800 staff? I’m at the end of my tether


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## Charlie byrne (25 Oct 2017)

I am one of the 600 identified got a letter today saying they will ring me the first week of November to give me a direct point of contact to answer any questions and to expect a detailed letter setting out terms of redress and payment in the coming weeks and Will contact me again at that point to answer any further questions I hope whoever rings is not in a hurry or is to sensitive can't wait


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## Sadhbs (25 Oct 2017)

Hi Charlie. Lucky you. What were your circumstances?


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## Threadser (25 Oct 2017)

Charlie byrne said:


> I hope whoever rings is not in a hurry or is to sensitive can't wait


I also got that letter today and I am looking forward to that phone call. There was also an offer of a face to face meeting which I was considering. It might be a nice opportunity to have a chat about the disgraceful way we have been treated...face to face!


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## Charlie byrne (25 Oct 2017)

To be honest I don't know when I was effected I took out mortgage In 2006 fixed for 3 years  went through a lot of hardship after that in arrears  a couple of times  got a letter out of the blue last year saying I was effected I knew Notting before then


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## Sadhbs (25 Oct 2017)

Hi Threadser. Would you mind sharing how you were affected?


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## moneymakeover (25 Oct 2017)

Don't we know it



> _How we handle this critical issue will define the customer centric culture we aspire to at Bank of Ireland._


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## Threadser (25 Oct 2017)

Sadhbs said:


> Hi Threadser. Would you mind sharing how you were affected?


I had a tracker and fixed for 3 years in 2006. When the fixed rate period ended I wasn't offered a tracker option.


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## LadyHB (26 Oct 2017)

@Threadser Did you fix before or after August 2006? Do you know if you were on a regular tracker or a discounted tracker (often offered for the first 12 months of your mortgage)? What tracker rate were you restored to? 

I fixed in July 2006 for 3 years. I was on a one year discounted variable rate tracker before that. 

Original contract very clear that the interest rate shall be no more than ECB+1.3% for the term of the loan.  Not offered a tracker in 2009 and I defaulted to a SVR.

 I can’t understand why I haven’t been recognized. Surely the terms of the contract have been breached. Are there others still left hanging with similar situations?


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## ryflava (26 Oct 2017)

As far as I'm concerned I am impactedFixed for 3 yrs in 2007, when that fixed rate was up, BOI said' we don't offer that product anymore', when I mentioned going back on my tracker..


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## LadyHB (26 Oct 2017)

I just spoke to someone on the BOI Tracker "Helpline" and really nothing has changed since I spoke to them in September. No new info for the likes of me at least. But they were very clear in their language in referring to those the bank "deem impacted". I'm delighted progress is being made for those they deem impacted but I suspect there's lots of us (even beyond the 1,800 staff) still in limbo and that's likely to continue for another 6 months or so. 

The Government really haven't stepped up on this. With all their grandstanding they haven't achieved much beyond what the Banks committed to do before the Oireachtas Committee a few weeks ago. 

I feel really let down and deflated by it all. It's still a lot of finger-wagging. And BOI looks to be likely to continue to hide behind questionable legal arguments and hope that we disappear with our tail between our legs. 

We'll just have to wait and see if the "moral suasion" of the Central Bank gains any traction over the next few weeks. If it doesn't, this will blow up again. Someone mentioned on another thread about the possibility of this becoming an election issue - it wouldn't surprise me. 

I watched the proceedings in the Dail last night and some of the speakers were really superb - Pearse Doherty in particular was pretty outstanding (and I'm not a SF supporter!). I'm just very grateful that we have people who will continue to fight our corner.


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## LadyHB (26 Oct 2017)

Sorry, I'm venting and I'll take a break soon! But just reading BOI's press release from December 16th 2016 and really there's been shag all progress since then. In fact the number of customers impacted by the rate differential issue has actually decreased from 3,916 to 3,700! And not one new account has been identified as impacted in the last 10 months - what have they been doing!? And the promises re what they would put in place in Q1 2017 were obviously not delivered on. It's infuriating. 

*16 December 2016*


*Statement from Bank of Ireland regarding the Central Bank Tracker Mortgage Examination process
*
Friday, December 16 – Bank of Ireland is currently conducting its examination of tracker mortgage related issues which covers, amongst other things, transparency of communications with and contractual rights of tracker mortgage customers. This is an industry wide review required by the Central Bank of Ireland.

In 2010, prior to the current Examination the Bank, under the direction of the Central Bank, undertook a desk based review of tracker rate mortgage switches which resulted in the remediation of c. 2,100 accounts.

Arising from the ongoing Examination, Bank of Ireland has 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.

Separately whilst conducting the review the Bank identified a small rate differential, of on average 0.15%, on 3,916 accounts currently on a tracker rate of interest which is not the rate specified in the account loan documentation.

The Bank of Ireland Group would like to sincerely apologise to each of these customers for these failures. The correct rate should have been applied to these accounts and we sincerely apologise for not applying the correct rate in these cases.

In line with the principles outlined by the Central Bank of Ireland, when an impacted customer is identified Bank of Ireland must stop charging the incorrect rate of interest, and apply the correct rate, to ensure that any further detriment for customers ceases as soon as possible. Bank of Ireland will now commence contact with these customers to return them to the correct tracker rate and inform them of their new payment amounts.

As the examination progresses Bank of Ireland will, over the first quarter of 2017, commence refunding customers who overpaid interest. In addition, at that point, the Bank will have established a redress and compensation scheme in line with the principles set out by the Central Bank including the payment of compensation and independent advice as appropriate and an independent appeals process. An independent third party, Deloitte, will review key aspects of Bank of Ireland’s work.
The Central Bank of Ireland Tracker Mortgage Examination will take Bank of Ireland further time to complete and conclude. Bank of Ireland is fully co-operating with the Central Bank of Ireland.


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## tigger45 (26 Oct 2017)

Anyone else annoyed by the mention of compensation only and not redress?


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## LadyHB (26 Oct 2017)

It's very odd and I imagine very deliberate too...are they still running away from admitting any wrong-doing?


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## moneymakeover (26 Oct 2017)

I lost BOI and Aib trackers
Still not deemed impacted by either


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## Threadser (26 Oct 2017)

@LadyHB I started my mortgage on a discounted fixed rate for one year in 2003. In 2004 I was given the option of  a tracker of ECB plus 1.25  which I took. I fixed in early 2006 and for 3 years and wasn't given the option of a tracker when I came off the fixed rate in early 2009. My tracker has been restored from Dec 16 at a rate of ECB plus 1.3. Your situation sounds very similar to mine so I would definitely keep the pressure up to have it restored.


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## skinnylegs (27 Oct 2017)

Hi,
Spoke to the BOI "helpline" just now and was told that the only people to have received letters to say that they were impacted, were those that were put back on a tracker but at the wrong rate. She said that those letters were sent out last February. 
Any victims that have been identified since then would be notified by post and those letters would be sent by November 10th.
Any thoughts?


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## LadyHB (27 Oct 2017)

Thanks very much @Threadser. I'm encouraged that you fixed pre-August 2006 as other posters have suggested  in other threads that pre-2006 is trickier to resolve because of the August 2006 timing of the Consumer Protection Legislation. I'll keep pushing!

@skinnylegs That's definitely a more specific response that I've managed to get. So the 602 that were identified and noted in the press release from last December still haven't received a letter (as no additional people have been identified since then). It's pretty amazing that they've sat on them for this length of time, but maybe they were waiting for the appeals process to be signed off which probably would have required phase II to be signed off with their Board and the CB. Given the on-going dispute between BOI and CB on which cohorts are in and out of scope, perhaps it's only now that they've been compelled to at least acknowledge that 602. If it's true...I'll be sitting on the postman for the next couple of weeks!


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## Threadser (27 Oct 2017)

LadyHB said:


> perhaps it's only now that they've been compelled to at least acknowledge that 602.


That 602 received letters to say there were impacted in December 2016.


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## LadyHB (27 Oct 2017)

So sounds like more misinformation from the “helpline” because BOI don’t claim to have identified any more people since that 602 number.


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## ryflava (27 Oct 2017)

That's all that "helpline " seem to do, is give out false information It's so frustrating.. I wouldn't mind but the lady that I always seem to speak with, is as nice as pie.. telling me to " just hang in there, for another few weeks "


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