# Bank of Ireland mistake, should have offered a tracker



## ninak

I know someone else has something like this up but I have a different problem with it. I just got a letter from the bank saying that I had been paid a refund, to my mortgage ac!, as after the fixed term on my mortgage finished I had been put on a variable rate, when I should have been on a tracker as of the original mortgage agreement. I did not know this. I just fixed my mortgage for 3 years a couple of weeks before I got this letter. The refund was for the 4 months between one term ending and my fixing again. My argument with the bank is that I never would have fixed for 3 years if I had been offered the tracker as I should have been. They are trying to say that I have signed for 3 years and that is that. They will offer me the tracker when this fixed rate is over. But I am fixed at 4% for next three years when I should have been 1.25% max over the ECB repo rate as it says in the original mortgage document! Seems like they pulled a fast one here. Any advice?


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## Brendan Burgess

Hi Nina

You were offered a choice between a SVR and a fixed rate.  This was the bank's error. they should have offered you a choice between a cheap tracker and a fixed rate. 

Make a formal complaint in writing to the person who handles complaints.

I am sure that they will reverse the decision.

if not, the Ombudsman will do it.

Brendan


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## ninak

Hi. Just to update on what happened with the bank in this situation. After arguing with customer services I was told that our case was being handed over to a department dealing with this issue. We then received a letter from the bank offering us an out from our fixed rate without paying penalties, and an offer of a tracker 1.25% above the ECB rate. Also they will refund any interst overcharged while we were on the fixed rate. In this case I have to say that the bank have been great, all credit to them! 
The only issue I still have is that there is a clause in the new agreement for the tracker that says if we ever decide to go on a fixed rate or a variable rate, we lose our entitlement to a tracker. Is this normal for tracker mortgages? Thanks.


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## NorfBank

That clause is normal.
Once you agree to leave the tracker, the bank do not have to re-offer it.


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## ninak

Thought so. Thanks.


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## Brendan Burgess

Nina

Well done! That is great. Welcome to that group of the population who have cheap trackers. 

My concern would be for others in a similar situation who just accept the situation.  I wonder did the bank make a decision for you alone or for all people affected by this decision. 

Brendan


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## Derry

Well done Nina good for you!!!


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## ninak

Thanks guys. Yes happy to join the tracker gang! As to whether the bank is doing this for others, if you shout loud enough they will have to! They were completely in the wrong! They did not offer us all the options we were entitled to in the mortgage agreement so we would be well within our rights to challenge them in order to get off the fixed rate, penalty free, and go on a tracker. They're legal team would know that too. I was flatly told no way by the person I spoke to in Mortgages. If a customer does not demand to speak to a supervisor, and then they're supervisor, and so on, you will get nowhere. I was about to put my complaints in writing to the bank, but they had it sorted before I got to. Once you get through to the department dealing with issues arising from these trackers not having been offered, and there is one, you will get some answers. I hope this is of help to anyone else who missed out on a chance to get on a tracker after the end of a fixed rate. My advice, go read your original mortgage doc and see if you should have been offered one. We had no idea we were entitled to it.


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## JJOY

*Tracker Mortgages*

Hi, 

Could I just ask you, who you have your Mortgage with, as I am in a similar position right now and I have gone through the bank complaints channel to no avail and I am now going to the Financial Ombudsman.  Well done, at least you came out the right side of them.


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## Brenneck

Hi,

Well done Ninak, you just gave me a boost. My situation seems like yours:

We took a mortgage in 2005, switched to fixed in 2007 for 2 years and then we were not given the change to move back to tracker in 2009 so went for variable. Back in December we decided to fixe again for 5 years.....until this letter from BOI we received in April.

In this letter, the bank tells us that to repair their "mistake", they have made and interest adjustment i.e. credited our mortgage balance of the difference between the variable and tracker rates between 2009 and December 2010.

Sounds good....but if I'd known that and if they had offered me the tracker 2 years ago, I would not have subscribed another fixed rate (5 years signed back in december 2011) but stayed on the tracker they should have offered us. 

Basically, they are correcting their mistake of 2 years ago when they did not offer us the tracker but that's all ! Their mistake has an impact on our current situation and when I called to see if I could stop my current fixed rate and revert back to the original tracker, they told me that I could do so as long as I payed them compensations (approximately 1000€ back in May and it is today @ 3800€ !). 

I refuse to pay a penalty because of them misleading us. Their excuse is that the MFA we signed back in december mentions such "compensation" for breaking our arrangement. My point is that I would never have gone for a 5 years fixed rate if I had been on tracker.

My questions is: if I bring my situation to the attention on to the ombudsman do I have a case?

Thanks.


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## Knuttell

Breneck,Put all this information in a letter to..

Ms Bernie O Donnell,
Customer Affairs Manager,
C/O Bank Of Ireland Customer Care Unit,
Lower Baggot st,
Dublin 2.


Ask for a final response letter to this situation and take it from there.You have a very good case and I am quite surprised they have not broken your fixed rate at their expense and allowed you to revert to the tracker...you would not have taken it had they not tried to pull a fast one back in 2007.

Good luck with it.


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## Bronte

All those getting refunds should ask the bank how they are making their calculations.  We have had people on AAM who asked for clarification and got further refunds as the banks made incorrect calculations.


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## MortgageGuy

I don't think that anybody should pay a 'break fee' if the bank failed to offer them the correct rate: in fact, if you are paying more than you would on the tracker you should add up the difference and apply interest at whatever the highest rate that bank give to depositors and ask for that on top of the tracker at a zero break fee. FSO all the way on this one.


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## ClubMan

Brenneck said:


> We took a mortgage in 2005, switched to fixed in 2007 for 2 years and then we were not given the change to move back to tracker in 2009 so went for variable. Back in December we decided to fixe again for 5 years.....until this letter from BOI we received in April.
> 
> In this letter, the bank tells us that to repair their "mistake", they have made and interest adjustment i.e. credited our mortgage balance of the difference between the variable and tracker rates between 2009 and December 2010.
> 
> Sounds good....but if I'd known that and if they had offered me the tracker 2 years ago, I would not have subscribed another fixed rate (5 years signed back in december 2011) but stayed on the tracker they should have offered us.
> 
> Basically, they are correcting their mistake of 2 years ago when they did not offer us the tracker but that's all ! Their mistake has an impact on our current situation and when I called to see if I could stop my current fixed rate and revert back to the original tracker, they told me that I could do so as long as I payed them compensations (approximately 1000€ back in May and it is today @ 3800€ !).
> 
> I refuse to pay a penalty because of them misleading us. Their excuse is that the MFA we signed back in december mentions such "compensation" for breaking our arrangement. My point is that I would never have gone for a 5 years fixed rate if I had been on tracker.
> 
> My questions is: if I bring my situation to the attention on to the ombudsman do I have a case?
> 
> Thanks.


I would not have thought so and am surprised that the bank is admitting to any mistake here given what _NorfBank _says here:


NorfBank said:


> That clause is normal.
> Once you agree to leave the tracker, the bank do not have to re-offer it.


Unless the terms & conditions of your specific loan agreement were such that they were obliged to revert you to tracker once any fixed rate period(s) expired...


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## thedaras

NorfBank said:


> That clause is normal.
> Once you agree to leave the tracker, the bank do not have to re-offer it.


As im sure you may already know,but just for the sake of clarity,the above is not always the case.
There are in fact some tracker mortgages that revert to trackers after EVERY fixed rate term.


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## swiggy

Just looking for an update on this thread.  I am in a similar position in that BOI offered me a tracker back when my fixed period was up. I had only fixed a month previously for three years . I wrote to them requesting to be put back on tracker immediately without payment of a penalty and 5 months later, they replied saying no and gave me the contact ombusdman details. 

So just wondering if anyone of those on this thread in similar situations had any luck with BOI getting their tracker back? I have written to them again but am not prepared to wait another 5 months for a reply, by that stage it will be a year since I have received the original letter.


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## thedaras

Can you clarify what you mean by " BOI offered me a tracker back when my fixed period was up".
Do you mean that you should have been offered a tracker on expiry of your fixed rate and that BOI, didnt give you that option at the time? If so ,can you clarify how you know they should have offered it to you? That way I can hopefully point you in the right directi


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## Kerrigan

There is a heads up article on this topic in today's Independent.

Frank Conway of MoneyCoach also advising people to dig out their mortgage contracts . . .


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