# Problem with Ulster Bank House Mortgages



## edwardg (29 Apr 2007)

On 16 March 2007 I hand delivered a cheque in the amount of Euros 29,000.00 to Ulster Bank House Mortgages, College Green. In my covering letter I informed them that the purpose of the cheque was to reduce the capital amount borrowed. I also informed them that I wished to shorten the term of my mortgage and maintain the same level of monthly payments going forward increasing in line with ECB interest rate increases.

At the end of March I received a letter from the Bank confirming receipt of the cheque and the revised capital amount outstanding. They also informed me that my new gross monthly repayment would be EUR 522.00 when it should have been EUR 794.00 (the current level as of 1 April 2007). I e-mailed the Bank three times at the beginning of April pointing out their mistake and asking to rectify their mistake. I did not receive an acknowledgement to any of my e-mails.

On 13 April I wrote a short letter to the manager of the Ulster Bank Mortgage Centre along the lines below:

1.	Why did you fail to carry out the instructions in my letter dated 16 March (attached)?

2.	Why did you fail to reply to three e-mails from me (attached) drawing attention to your error?

3.	How does the Bank propose to compensate me for the interest I will now overpay on this account due to your failure to carry out my instructions?

4.	What procedures are in place in the Bank to monitor and deal with incoming e-mails from customers?

I am really sick and tired of financial institutions in this country. Having switched mortgages and paid off mortgages in recent years I have been dumbfounded at the incompetence of the financial institutions I have dealt with. They have mislaid deeds, lost life assurance policies and generally failed to carry out simple and clear instructions. In one case a financial institution mislaid the original of a life assurance policy and tried to get me to fill in a lost policy form. Is it possible for ordinary individuals to object to the renewal of banking licences on the basis of incompetence or that the institution is not  fit for purpose. 

This problem with the Ulster Bank is just one problem too far for me. If the shoe was on the other foot and I was the one at fault I am sure they would plague me almost daily to resolve the problem At what stage in this process is it acceptable for me to bring this problem to the attention of the relevant financial regulator – I have already send Ulster Bank three e-mails and a letter.


EdwardG


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## mo3art (29 Apr 2007)

I recall from having similar service issues with Ulster Bank (but not as big) that they would respond to your queries within 10 working days.  As it is clear that they have not, I would escalate your dispute directly to IFSRA and copy UB in your correspondence.


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## Towger (30 Apr 2007)

Don't hold your breath. I am still waiting 3/4 years for a reply to two written complaint letters. One sent to their Dublin HQ and the other to their Belfast HQ.
I withdrew all but €20 from a saving account, but they sent be the full amount and closed the account. I rang up to ask why, and got told the account required a minimum balance of €500. Need less to say, it was not in their terms and conditions (I checked in both the original T&C and the current T&C before withdrawing the money). I then got a cheque for about 2k interest a couple of days later!!!!  Oh well, it is their loss and NRs gain.

Towger.


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## aaa1 (1 May 2007)

I had a problem with Ulster Bank a few months ago. To cut a long story short, I took out a bank draft of about €8k to pay my solicitor but they didn't take the cash from my account for a couple of months. I should have realised I was a bit more flush than I should have been but I nearly had a heart attack when it actually did clear - it was so long since I'd withdrawn it that I thought my account had been skimmed. Ended up a letter was at home for me telling me about the delay with debiting the draft but it was too late because I'd already cancelled my cards. Rang first thing the next Monday and asked to speak to the girl who had sent the letter. Asked her why she hadn't rang me and she started getting snotty saying she didn't have my number. I told her I have a €325k mortgage through their branch so why not? She said it was held at a different centre and I asked did they not have a telephone number. As you said, if the shoe was on the other foot and I owed them €8k, I'm sure I'd be getting multiple calls. Anyway, this went on and she was being really awkward so I fired off an email to the bank manager basically saying I accepted that an honest mistake had been made but their inability to get my mobile number and the girls attitude were simply not acceptable. Got a phone call from the manager apologising plus a promise to lodge €100 into my account as a goodwill gesture. Didn't really care about the money to be honest, it was just her attitude with *my *money that really p***ed me off. 
I suggest you get the managers name and ring them - if they won't take your call email them, tell them you're going to switch to another bank and will lodge a formal complaint with UB's head office, naming both the manager and the cashier you were dealing with. Feck it, contact the Financial Regulator when you're at it. Betcha you'll have a call the following day. 
Good luck - don't let them get away with it.


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## collis (3 May 2007)

Found out I'm being charged 5.4% interest on a UB Ufirst tracker mortgage , LTV is less than 60% so rate should be 4.8% or lower. Have had a healthy account there for over 10 years, dropped a lot of cash on insurances etc in that time. Spoken to mortgage centre in Dublin who referred me to the branch in Dundalk who are checking with ...mortgage centre in Dublin.  Abysmal service ,costing me money. Will follow the above advice and write a letter using the term 'incompetence' to the branch manager and the mortgage centre manager tomorrow. 
And if and when I get compensated, switching stage left! 
Are UB really that bad or are they all the same??


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## aaa1 (4 May 2007)

Was speaking to a broker and apparently UB switched over to a new system in October.  It means that all transactions such as direct debits go through some centre in England - which also deals with about five other banks. So if you want to get anything set up or cancelled it could easily get lost en route


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## MOB (4 May 2007)

"In one case a financial institution mislaid the original of a life assurance policy and tried to get me to fill in a lost policy form."

Not being smart, but why is this a bad thing? Am I missing something?


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## 1not24get (6 May 2007)

UB have screwed up big time twice for me in the last 6 months. 
Mortgage:

At the beginning of Augst‘06 applied for a mortgage. I rang the branch every week or two to find out where the money was. Each time I rang, there was a different problem with the application. I would go and sort that problem and then phone a week later only to find out that there was an other problem…but unless I rang, they never bothered their barnie getting back to me to sort out the application. It seems UB mortgages where not communicating with the branchs. Eventually in Nov '06 the vendor wanted to close the sale and I had to plead with the branch to sort out something. Lot’s of phone calls and stress later we managed to get the funds but only thanks to the sheer hard work of the staff at the branch.

Same day electronic transfer of funds…yaa right!

In March 07 was buying a car in England. Made the deadline for ‘same day transfer of funds’, £1600, on the Thursday. I was in England on the following Monday morning and guess what…no money in the UK bank account….had to get a cash advance on the credit card to complete purchase of the car…it was soo embarssing!!! Went into the branch when I got back, fuming, and they claimed the branch had sent it through to Dublin and that Dublin had not put it through until Monday afternoon because they were ‘snowed under’ The charges and interest on the credit card came to €100 more than the transfer but I got this refunded…seems like there’s a huge problem with inadequate numbers of staff in UB HQ?????

TOP TIPS FOR RUNNING A BANK:


IT’S CHEAPER TO HOLD ONTO EXISTING CUSTOMERS RATHER THAN SPENDING MILLIONS ON ADVERTISING TO GET NEW CUSTOMERS!!!
USE SOME OF YOUR INFLATED PROFITS TO EMPLOY A FEW MORE STAFF TO GET THE JOB DONE!!


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## gregor (7 May 2007)

Sorry to add insult to inury, but you may not be aware of this - Ulster Bank are offering a better tracker rate to switchers from other insitutions. I believe that the best rate that on can get is as a U first account holder with an LTV of less than 80%. 

However a switcher customer with the same criteria can get a .2% better rate. Having spoken with both the Dubiln Mortgage Centre and my branch, I've discovered that there is nothing that I can do.....except switch of course!


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## gregor (7 May 2007)

Sorry to add insult to inury, but you may not be aware of this - Ulster Bank are offering a better tracker rate to switchers from other insitutions. I believe that the best rate that on can get is as a U first account holder with an LTV of less than 80%. 

However a switcher customer with the same criteria can get a .2% better rate. Having spoken with both the Dubiln Mortgage Centre and my branch, I've discovered that there is nothing that I can do.....except switch of course!

While I suspect that all banks experience some of the problems detailed below, I believe that UB have been consistently poor for about a year now and I'm fed up with it.

G


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## collis (8 May 2007)

gregor said:


> Sorry to add insult to inury, but you may not be aware of this - Ulster Bank are offering a better tracker rate to switchers from other insitutions. I believe that the best rate that on can get is as a U first account holder with an LTV of less than 80%.
> 
> G


 
Sorry Gregor, I missed that, what do you believe is the best rate for a Ufirst accounter holder with less than 80% LTV? 
Thanks


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## johnspica (10 May 2007)

I don't let myself get mad anymore, life is too short. Why not set up a new standing order to Ulster Bank for the difference between your old payment and the new one they have foisted on you?


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## Shepahoy (10 May 2007)

Has anyone on the UB tracker mortgage managed to get them to stop charging the €9/month fee for Ufirst account?


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## elcato (10 May 2007)

> Has anyone on the UB tracker mortgage managed to get them to stop charging the €9/month fee for Ufirst account?


Yes - I went to the branch where my actual account was and did so there and then by signing a form to 'downgrade' to the free current account. 
To the original query, I'm not a fan myself but I wrote a letter and hand-delivered it to the manager (when told she/he was not available asked for name of person taking the actual letter) and I got a written response to sort out the problem in a few days. I would send another letter to the manager. To be fair, the difference in payments will be minimal if its sorted out soon enough.


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## Shepahoy (11 May 2007)

Hi Elcato, 

Has UB a policy on this, as I thought that if you take out a tracker mortgage you must have a Ufirst account with the accompanying fee of €9/month? 

I'd be afraid they would up my mortgage rate if I went with free CA as that was mentioned at the start as reason for paying for ufirst.


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## Nige (11 May 2007)

The €9 charge per month for the Ufirst account isn't too bad when you take into account the travel insurance for you and your partner that comes with it. Just make sure you're not paying another provider for travel insurance too.


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## elcato (11 May 2007)

> Has UB a policy on this, as I thought that if you take out a tracker mortgage you must have a Ufirst account with the accompanying fee of €9/month?


Their policy is to give you a further .1% discount on the tracker if you have a ufirst account. If your mortgage is below 200k then the saving is not that good but anythng above means a saving of a few euro.


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## mangos (11 May 2007)

Ulster bank have a complaints procedure in place.  The first port of call is the branch with which you have your dealings.  They should respond within 10 days.  If no response is received, you then write to their complaints department-this should be available on their website.  Make sure you register your letter and request to be assigned someone to deal with your problem directly.  If no response is received within a reasonable time, usually 10 days, I think, you can then go to the financial regulator.

Alternatively demand all information on you from the bank by making an access request under the data protection acts of 1988 & 2003.  They have 40 days to respond to this and there is a fee of 6.35.  I had to resort to this course of action with them on a different matter.  I got my file from them in a prompt manner and it made for interesting reading.  If they do not respond to an access request, then the data protection commissioner can intervene.

Mangos


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## MrKeane (11 May 2007)

I switched bank account to UB recently and found them excellent, I am also in the process of switching mortgage and so far so good, although its a bit of a go slow at the moment the ball appears to be in first american title insurance companys court, but a couple of weeks is all I am talking about which is nothing in the mortgage game.

One tip for people when switching bank account and/or mortgage is to do everything via email where possible. I have a paper chain of everything.

I also got a bit lucky I think, when I called in to switch I got to deal with the manager and have been emailing them ever since as my point of contact.

I got my €150 deposited to my account fairly quickly too.


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## pavlov (30 Jul 2007)

We have our mortgage with Ulster bank. We were looking for a better deal elsewhere and needed a mortgage statement in order to apply to alternative institutions. It took almost 3 months to get the statement having rung at least once a week every week. Everyone I came in contact with over the phone in UB assured me that they had sent it. I finally got in contact with a lady in the complaints department telling her of my experience. I told her that I was going to tell everyone I knew to stay away from UB- that they were incompetent regarding administration and that they had cost me money while waiting to change mortgage. She had the statement faxed to me immediately and another sent in the post along with an apology and a food hamper!
We may now end up staying with UB as they are willing to match the best interest rate we could find as long as we open a UFirst account. 

Aside from the good interest rate which we're getting and the 9euro per month charge does anyone else know of advantages/disadvantages of this type of account?


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## Banking2006 (31 Jul 2007)

I got best mortgage rate from ulster at 0.5% +ECB. I haven';t got any bank account with them! So it pays to talk nicely!


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## Neilc78 (31 Jul 2007)

Lads, all these banks, phone suppliers, esb etc are all the same. The put all their resources into getting new customers and the scraps they have left go into customer service. I have had many issues with Ulster Bank in the past. I have a mortgage with them, couple of car loans and 3 accounts. Whenever they p*ss me off I simply tell them they have 2 days to sort it or I pull the plug on every piece of business I have with them. Things normally get resolved in 2 hours after that.


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## bettyr (25 Sep 2007)

Hi

I also have an Ulster Bank mortgage and have had nothing but problems with them from the start. Firstly they didn't debit my account for the 1st three months but didn't realise there was an issue until I contacted them. Turns out they had incorrect direct debit details for me and were debiting someone else. Then they had the incorrect address for my correspondance and on the title deeds for my house. I followed both these issues with letters of complaint.

Currently my problem is getting my TRS back from them for the last 12 months. Every time I ring up they tell me it hasn't been applied yet and they don't know why or when it will be because its a "closed system" but that its a good way for me to save?! Revenue have assured me they have sent this detail to UB. 

I have never had any correspondance (detailing interest rate changes or end of year statements) from UB except for acknowledgement of my 2 complaint letters. 

I am completely frustrated with UB at this stage and feel I have hit a brick wall. Any advice on how to proceed would be welcome!


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## Luckycharm (25 Sep 2007)

Nige said:


> The €9 charge per month for the Ufirst account isn't too bad when you take into account the travel insurance for you and your partner that comes with it. Just make sure you're not paying another provider for travel insurance too.


 
I did not know that so you get free travel insurance with a ufirst account which I have - is it worldwide?


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## mangos (27 Sep 2007)

Hi

I have had numerous issues with UB including having mortgage funding lodged to the wrong solicitor.  They have a customer complaints number which I used to phone and I always had my issues resolved within a few weeks.  I do not have the number on hand.

There is a new code of practice in place for banks which came into being early July of this year.  This requires them to acknowledge your complaint within 5 days of receipt of it.  They have a month I think to deal with your complaint and they must let you know who is dealing with your complaint.  At the end of the month they must tell you what steps they have taken to rectify your issue.

alternatively you could make life v. awkward by requesting all the info they have on you by making an access request under data protection acts (if you go on data protection website they tell you how to formulate such a request) and also let UB know that the data they hold on you under these acts is incorrect.  This should generate an interesting response.

Good luck
Mangos


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## Banking2006 (27 Sep 2007)

Hi everyone

UFIRST- not necessary- you can get 0.55% +ECB on mortgages without any such account from Ulster Bank- officially you'll be told otherwise- Check with their Mortgage Centre and you'll be told about 3 different rates that could be charged to each customer- it all depends who deals with your file and whether they are having a good/ bad hair day...

CODE OF PRACTICE- Did i spell that correct. It's simply a bluffer's guide textbook answers that they send back saying the have investigated the matters and apologising. I had this experience with Tesco Personal Finance and the same issues kept re-occurring- and the same letters of apologies kept issuing! And if you pursue same with the Financial Services Ombudsman, you'll get a similar response! After all he is paid for by the bank as part of our 'self policing' bank system. He'd hardly come down hard on the bank who pays his wages!! Don't phone to complain- always write and never talk to them on phone- make them write!

DATA PROTECTION- Remember the bank will be allowed charge you a fee for such requests. If you have a loan/ mortgage/ credit card/ savings/ current account- you'll get charged 5 times the fee as they claim all such data will be maintained at 5 locations, etc- Ask Bank of Ireland if you don't believe me- their Data Protection Office is located at Bank of Irel, Freepost (of course), South Mall, Cork. Don't bother complaining to the Data Protection Commissioner- another talking shop with no powers and not interested in your personal experience!

Hope that helps and sets you on the right path!


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