Bank out of line???

T

trpoject

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I got a call from my father today (we share the same name) very upset and stressed about a letter received from a bank demanding monies owed. As it turned out this was for me after getting on to the bank.
A couple of questions:

  • This account was set up in my name by rea mortgages to avail of a cheaper interest rate on the mortgage. I have never seen a statement or any other correspondence since the mortgage was set up 4 years ago in relation to this account. The bank says there has been a €10 a month charge building up on this even though the account was never used. If I dont pay they will have to increase the interest on the mortgage. Has anyone ever come across this before?
  • The letter was sent to my fathers home. I have not lived there for over twenty years. This address was never used in any way in regards to the mortgage application. The banker told me they gained this address from a third party search agency. They do have my details as I get loads of mail from them regarding my mortgage. In sending this letter to my father are the in breach of the data protection act??
Any advice on how to deal with this, I am a very annoyed over this as my father is very ill and stressfull situations no matter how small can prove fatal according to his doctors.
 
Question: where have all the statements gone? Suggest you ask bank for copies of applications setting up account and present to Rea Mortgages and ask them what they intend to do about this!
 
"Any advice on how to deal with this,"

Yes. Sort it out. Stop getting stressed out about it ( what is it : €200?), stop getting your Dad all stressed out about it, if necessary pay it, close this account, write a letter , whatever ! Notify them, in writing of your address, ask them, in writing, to send any future correspondence to that address, notify them, in writing, that you are the person who this correspondence is for, not your father. Tell your father that you have dealt with it and that its not something that affects him and you are sorry he got dragged into it.

mf
 
Slim said:
Question: where have all the statements gone? Suggest you ask bank for copies of applications setting up account and present to Rea Mortgages and ask them what they intend to do about this!
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REA are no more, went into liquidation last year.
It seems you set up a U First account, this had/has a €10 per month charge and in return a U First customer will get a 0.1% reduction in his mortgage rate. This is just from memory.

How this has gone on for 4 years without the bank requesting payment is beyond me.

If you do not pay the €10 then the bank are within their rights to increase the mortgage rate. This would have been in the terms and conditions of the agreement you should have signed.

First thing I would do is request a copy of this signed agreement.

Again from memory, maybe by signing the U First mortgage offer you gave the bank authority to open a U First account?
 
Slim: They can not tell me where the statements have gone, In there words we have no other address than the one we got from the third party.

Mf1: I am not getting stressed if it needs paying it will be paid. The fact my father got the letter was luck on their part. Quote " This was the only mr tproject the third party agency could find in the area. so we sent the demand there". It could have easily been you who received the demand.

Norfbank: It could well be the situation that on signing the agreement it did authorise them to open a Ufirst account. However I had no account number, no idea which branch until today and not one piece of correspondence. Even after getting a top up last year for an extentsion there was no mention of this.
 
trpoject said:
I got a call from my father today (we share the same name) very upset and stressed about a letter received from a bank demanding monies owed. As it turned out this was for me after getting on to the bank.
A couple of questions:

  • This account was set up in my name by rea mortgages to avail of a cheaper interest rate on the mortgage. I have never seen a statement or any other correspondence since the mortgage was set up 4 years ago in relation to this account. The bank says there has been a €10 a month charge building up on this even though the account was never used. If I dont pay they will have to increase the interest on the mortgage. Has anyone ever come across this before?
  • The letter was sent to my fathers home. I have not lived there for over twenty years. This address was never used in any way in regards to the mortgage application. The banker told me they gained this address from a third party search agency. They do have my details as I get loads of mail from them regarding my mortgage. In sending this letter to my father are the in breach of the data protection act??
Any advice on how to deal with this, I am a very annoyed over this as my father is very ill and stressfull situations no matter how small can prove fatal according to his doctors.
Click to expand...

I've got to say that if this were me, I'd be making a formal complaint to the bank of the following basis.

1. They must (at some point) have had an adress for you on the current a/c. In fact, they cannot open an a/c without proof of address
2. They knew your address since you also have your mortgage with them
3. They took several years to bring this to your attention
4. They used a third party agency & caused stress & hassle for you & your sick father.

I cannot understand how their admin can be this half-assed.

I'd ask fir all fees due over past 4 years to be waived on the basis of the above & see what happens. They may say no but you also have the option to go to the Financial Servcies Ombudsman if you want.

Or, you can just pay what you owe & ask them to update their record but I'd be so mad, I think I'd try & bargain a bit.
 
When you got your mortgage did you get a reduction on the interest rate in return for having a ufirst account?
 
Hi,

Sorry to hear of your situation. I think you should seek independent legal advice, maybe from Citizens Advice? The operate the FLAC service which is run by training lawyers, and is free of charge.

In brief, I remember a case Paul -v- Holt [1935] where a letter sent by the plaintiffs landlord was opened by his brother. This was because there was no first name etc. The moral of the story is that the court allowed a claim of defamation, as the landlord negligently communicated the plaintiffs arrears to his brother.

As I said, I suggest you seek legal advice.

All the best.
 
Let's not assume that Peter knows what Paul is doing. The Current Accounts and Mortages are in different parts of the bank. Having worked in banks, I know that the guy with control of the Current Accounts databases in no way, manner or form wants to give access to the guy controlling the Mortgages databases... And they're both seperate from the Collections office! Office politics and empire building, you see, usually hidden under the FUD of data protection.

You should immediately send a registered letter with all the points suggested by MoneyHoney, and ask for an appointment to discuss the issues. Don't bother wasting time with customer services (who have no decision-making powers) or tellers, go straight to the manager. The bank is way out of line on this. Also you should ask for a free credit report to make sure that they haven't passed your details on to the credit ratings as a bad debtor.
 
I think you must have worked in a bank prior to computerisation,while I would agree with your comments that mortgages,finance,credit cards and branches all compete with each other and are very polcital all are grouped and can be seen linked to a customer at a glance
 
they absolutely can find out where statements were sent to and any change made to your account details since it was opened.
 
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