Aib /Cabot Financial ombudsman

just looking for some advice on this issue or what people think who have expierence with ombudsman do i have a leg to stand on?

i had a small personal loan 20k originally had been paying it off no issue for 4/5 years with AIB there was less then 2k left on it and after a direct debit issue payments got messed up in the meantime AIB sent 13 arrears letters to the wrong address on there system which they have admitted liability to ,

There is some responsibility on my end and kicking myself over the issue

But life gets busy and i genuinely had half forgotten about it as was a small payment and the one letter that AIB did send to correct address advised me the loan was closed off !! i threw the letter away and did not think about again and assumed it had been paid off ,

i received no phonecall from aib in two years just all these letter's going to incorrect address ,
They sold the 2k loan to cabbot unknown to me who also were sending letters to incorrect address i did receive some calls from cabbot that i did not answer as i assumed these were scam calls as i never dealt with them previously,

I now have a bad debt with central credit register , data protection breach with and cabbot and also a financial breach issue with cabbot who had there systems hacked ,

I find the whole situation like something out of Fawltey towers tbh.

I'm taking a case to fspo ombudsman but am looking at other options also

I really can't see what the FPSO can do.

Did you have access to the address AIB sent the letters/statements to?

Assuming you knew there was a balance, did you not make enquiries with AIB?

The direct debits - was it an error by AIB or was it due to insufficient funds in the account?

The best advice is to pay the balance off immediately and then make an appeal to the bank to amend the credit record.

It's only if after exploring all avenues and still thinking you were wronged and you receive a final response letter from AIB, will the ombudsman consider your complaint - and it could take two years and even then it's difficult to see them looking at it positively.

So you are best paying it off and then looking for the record to be amended by AIB

Did you have access to the address AIB sent the letters/statements to? No I did not was a previous address in a different county


The direct debits - was it an error by AIB or was it due to insufficient funds in the account? There was an error with setting it up after changing bank accounts they rang me in relation to it initially and I paid off what was owed and I instructed my bank not aib to sort it out over phone and thought no more of it but it did not get setup properly

I accept that there was an error on my side however the bank send arrears letters for a reason …to remind a customer to sort an issue out usually it would seem you get 13 chances judging by number of letters in my case I got none which I don’t think is acceptable,

It wouldn’t take a genius to work out that if a person has paid off 18k of a 20k loan he is unlikely to default on the final 2k

Gone through complaints and they offered a nonsense compensation amount for data breach under 2k ,

The money is a non issue and am happy to pay that in full have had zero financial difficulties over last number of years ,

It’s the damage done to credit rating due to a lack of reasonable customer service is the issue,
13 letters to an incorrect address and no phone call or email in two years I don’t think is reasonable behaviour from financial institution

You are the author of your own misfortune.

You knew you owed money and due to carelessness, did not pay it off.

You moved addresses and you changed banks and you blame the bank for not keeping tabs on you.

You moved addresses and you did not arrange for An Post to send you on letters.

While I know you are telling the full story, to a lender considering a loan application from you, it would appear that you tried to avoid paying the money you owed.

Clear the debt as soon as you can. In 5 years, your CCR will be clean again.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a loan you could explain to the lender what happened and they might approve your application.

Brendan

You moved addresses and you changed banks and you blame the bank for not keeping tabs on you. ?

To be fair I provided aib bank with new address which they accept is true ,

I accept there was an element of carelessness on my part which Im happy to pay in the form of late fees and additional interest payments,

However the bank is taking no responsibility for their carelessness in my view ,

Do you believe that level of customer service is reasonable if someone has arrears on account?

sonofagun100 said:

Do you believe that level of customer service is reasonable if someone has arrears on account?

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Yes. They wrote to you 13 times.

Do you think that ignoring the debt by you is reasonable?

I am always amazed by people forgetting about their debts and credit cards and then 10 years later suddenly remembering them when they apply for a mortgage and find themselves with a bad credit record.

Brendan

Yes. They wrote to you 13 times.

But They didn’t write to me they wrote to an unrelated person 13 times which was also a breach of privacy despite having been provided the correct address,

There is a difference between ingnoring and making a mistake and being unaware of the consequences of that mistake

I had a case with AIB where I missed a mortgage payment on a rental. Called to settle a few weeks after but they allocated the payment against another mortgage I have. Letters from them continued and I called explaining the issue, they said they would resolve and didn't reporting me to the credit bureau.
I complained to them, they resolved the situation eventually and gave me €500 for my trouble.

Brendan Burgess said:

Yes. They wrote to you 13 times.

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Brendan,
The OP is saying they gave AIB the new address, which they also say AIB acknowledge as true. However OP says they kept writing to the old address. The absence of a mail redirect is a moot point.

OP should have engaged with AIB without recourse to letters. However, they may have engaged sooner if they were in receipt of any of the 13 letters sent to an incorrect/old address.

Maybe it's time to stop thinking AIB good, customer bad. From my own experience (with a different bank), it proved impossible to get them to change my address and they kept writing to me at an old address until I eventually closed the account.

Luternau said:

Maybe it's time to stop thinking AIB good, customer bad.

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It's time to stop thinking that the customer is always right and that the bank is always wrong.

In this case, the OP knew that he owed money and didn't pay it.

Of course, AIB made a mistake but it was not intentional. The OP appears to have deliberately not paid his debt - or if it was not deliberate, was careless.

Hi Brendan,

So when AIB mess up its a mistake yet when i mess up its Deliberate/careless ,

go figure !

sonofagun100 said:

when i mess up its Deliberate/careless ,

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Not necessarily/always, but in this case it looks like it.

Let's work through the facts as you report them and allocate credit and blame.

There was some mistake between you and your bank about the direct debit paying AIB. That presumably was not AIB's fault. That should have been a big red alert to you to make sure that everything was sorted.

AIB made a mistake. They did not update the file with the correct address. I am attributing x% of the blame to them for this. This is an administrative error. It should not have happened. But it's not a hanging offence. The Ombudsman might think differently.

You notified AIB of your new address - so I am giving you good marks for that.

But you knew that you owed them money and you did not pay it. I don't know why you did not pay it. Only you know that.

Some people move and don't notify the bank in an effort to avoid paying money they owe. This is not the case here.

But at the same time, you stopped getting correspondence from AIB and you did nothing about it.

sonofagun100 said:

the one letter that AIB did send to correct address advised me the loan was closed off !! i threw the letter away and did not think about again and assumed it had been paid off ,

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I missed this at the first reading. Are you say that AIB wrote to you at your new address and said that the loan was cleared. That would go hugely in your favour.

What should someone have done?
1) I missed a few payments to AIB due to a mess up in the changing of my bank accounts. I would have got on top of this and made sure that the loan was paid off.
2) I moved address - I would tell AIB and you did this.
3) I knew I owed money - I would have made sure that loan was still being paid and that it was eventually cleared.
4) I got a letter to my new address telling me that the loan was cleared. I would be delighted. But I would not have thrown away the letter.

So ask AIB for a copy of that letter and if it says what you think it said, then AIB should sort it out. You do still owe the money so pay that and we will put a note on your credit report.

sonofagun100 said:

The direct debits - was it an error by AIB or was it due to insufficient funds in the account? There was an error with setting it up after changing bank accounts they rang me in relation to it initially and I paid off what was owed and I instructed my bank not aib to sort it out over phone and thought no more of it but it did not get setup properly

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The Ombudsman will want a clearer explanation of this.

AIB has a direct debit to ptsb and takes out €200 a month from ptsb.
It bounces because you closed that account and moved to BoI.
They ring you.
You apologise and transfer in the amount owing.
Surely you then give AIB the new bank account details for them to continue the direct debit?

I don't know what you mean by saying "I told BoI to sort it out".

Unless you used the current account switching code where ptsb should have moved the direct debit instruction to BoI. I would not trust that myself.