Bank of Ireland encouraging people off trackers onto fixed rates?

[Brendan Burgess]

The bank said that if customers opted to move off tracker rates, it was clearly outlined they could move back to the tracker rate after three or five years on a fixed rate.


The Central Bank has warned lenders they must give borrowers clear written warnings that they will lose their tracker rates if they switch to other mortgage types.

That letter certainly did not clearly outline anything of the sort.

Is it possible that they were hoping to move people to fixed rates but allowing them to retain their tracker on expiry of the fixed term, but if the customer broke the fixed rate, they would inadvertently lose their tracker?

I would hope that the Central Bank is on top of this.

 

[marathonic]

That letter certainly did not clearly outline anything of the sort.

Is it possible that they were hoping to move people to fixed rates but allowing them to retain their tracker on expiry of the fixed term, but if the customer broke the fixed rate, they would inadvertently lose their tracker?

I would hope that the Central Bank is on top of this.

Could it have been something like 'automatic reversion to SVR with the option to keep a tracker if you requested it'?

Either way, they're screwed now and will probably have to rethink whatever strategy they were planning.