# Response from Ulster Bank to Ombudsman



## john_mcm (17 Aug 2019)

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anyone could provide any information that might help me in my case against Ulster Bank. My case sounds very similar to @peteb case minus the payment holiday bit. I fixed in 2007 for 2 years and in 2009 was not offered back my Tracker. My original mortgage was taken out on an ECB +0.75% rate and as mentioned by other members my fixed rate authority also mentions the "Ulster Bank Home Loan Rate" on expiry of the fixed rate. My complaint was refused mediation by the bank and the Obudsman has already sent a series of questions to the bank and the bank has replied outlining their case. There main defence seems to be a certain part of the terms and conditions of the mortgage _14c (ii) variable rate which may be adjusted by the bank_ which I don't have anywhere in any of the original documentation I received from them.I need to formulate my response back to them now so if there is anything anyone could provide or if @peteb you still have any details on your case that you could share that might help I would really appreciate it. Thanks. John


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## moneymakeover (17 Aug 2019)

Why wasn't this case identified as part of the Tracker Examination?


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## JMexubbanker (18 Aug 2019)

john_mcm said:


> Hi Guys,
> 
> I was wondering if anyone could provide any information that might help me in my case against Ulster Bank. My case sounds very similar to @peteb case minus the payment holiday bit. I fixed in 2007 for 2 years and in 2009 was not offered back my Tracker. My original mortgage was taken out on an ECB +0.75% rate and as mentioned by other members my fixed rate authority also mentions the "Ulster Bank Home Loan Rate" on expiry of the fixed rate. My complaint was refused mediation by the bank and the Obudsman has already sent a series of questions to the bank and the bank has replied outlining their case. There main defence seems to be a certain part of the terms and conditions of the mortgage _14c (ii) variable rate which may be adjusted by the bank_ which I don't have anywhere in any of the original documentation I received from them.I need to formulate my response back to them now so if there is anything anyone could provide or if @peteb you still have any details on your case that you could share that might help I would really appreciate it. Thanks. John


Hi John
I agree...why was your case not identified as part of the examination as it sounds like it should have been. I'm not familiar with that condition 14c...it's special condition 2 and it's ambiguity that has caused the majority of cases to qualify for being impacted. 

Have you requested a Data Subject Access Request from the bank to view all the data they hold in relation to you pertaining to your mortgage? You won't have it back in time for responding but no harm to have this to hand for future responses.

I wish you all the best with your complaint and I hope you get your tracker back...it all just feels so inconsistent and unfair the more cases that I hear of


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## john_mcm (18 Aug 2019)

moneymakeover said:


> Why wasn't this case identified as part of the Tracker Examination?


I am not sure why it wasn't identified but the main reason the bank are giving is that we were informed throughout our mortgage journey that it was clear we would go on a variable rate if we fixed and the bank was not obligated to offer our tracker back.


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## john_mcm (18 Aug 2019)

JMexubbanker said:


> Hi John
> I agree...why was your case not identified as part of the examination as it sounds like it should have been. I'm not familiar with that condition 14c...it's special condition 2 and it's ambiguity that has caused the majority of cases to qualify for being impacted.
> 
> Have you requested a Data Subject Access Request from the bank to view all the data they hold in relation to you pertaining to your mortgage? You won't have it back in time for responding but no harm to have this to hand for future responses.
> ...


Hi JMexubbanker

That was my understanding too on special condition 2 and the bank has even acknowledged that this was error on their part. The condition 14c basically states that _on the expiry of a fixed rate the interest rate that would apply would be a variable interest rate that can be increased or decreased by the bank at any time._

I don't have this condition in any of the documentation I have, in the letter of loan offer the conditions stop at 8 and in another letter I have they stop at 12 there is no 14c. I requested the Data Subject Access Request in late 2017 and there is nothing in this either that mentions condition 14c but what was also strange was the they did not provide the letter of loan offer as part of the request, should this have been provided?

What I am hoping to do is return a structured response to the Ombudsman that shows that what they are stating is inaccurate.


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## peteb (20 Aug 2019)

john_mcm said:


> Hi JMexubbanker
> 
> That was my understanding too on special condition 2 and the bank has even acknowledged that this was error on their part. The condition 14c basically states that _on the expiry of a fixed rate the interest rate that would apply would be a variable interest rate that can be increased or decreased by the bank at any time._
> 
> ...



Key to it was this:



General Condition 2 of the general conditions of the loan offer make no reference to the Ulster Bank Home Rate being a Standard Variable Rate.  In fact the only rate mentioned in the offer of advance is one that notes the “margin for this Home Loan is ECB rate + 1.05%” and your response has provided nothing to show this to be incorrect.



My understanding is that in previous disputes the Financial Services Ombudsman  has acknowledged the Bank’s commercial discretion to remove ‘tracker’

products from the market. However, having considered the documentation available at the time of  previous complainants opting to move to a fixed interest rate, the FSO found that they could have reasonably expected to revert to the ‘tracker’ rate upon expiry of the fixed rate period. The FSO stated that the documentation was not clear and the consequences of moving from the tracker to the fixed interest rate for a set term were not sufficiently set out in the documentation.  This would appear to be the case in this instance and I will therefore be referring this matter to the FSO should I not hear from you within the next 5 days.


That was part of my email to the Ombudsman at the time.  if you need anything else, just PM me.  I'm unlikely to notice the tag otherwise.


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