Mortgage with Acc - Are they tough to deal with?

We are paying interest on our mortgage at the moment, and cannot see us being able to meet capital payments any day soon.

We have sought the help of professionals to deal with the bank on our behalf but when we mention the lender ACC people seem to shy away from helping us, and tell us these guys are going to court, even though the bank have not started legal proceedings.

Has anyone had any dealings with them?

If you are paying interest & co-operating you have no fear of Court proceedings being instigated. MARP requirements apply to all banks and if your financial position is such, that you are only able to cover interest on the borrowings, then you just need to continue to liaise with the Bank. ACCBank wil only instigate Court process if all other methods to obtain agreement with the mortgagor/s have failed. that doesn't seem to be the position in your case.

Make sure you have a letter from them stating that they are dealing with your case under the MARP framework. They are required to do this but have a habit of forgetting about such little details. I'm trawling through the courts because of this. they have no compunction in trying strong arm or bullying tactics either if there not getting their own way. Keep a record of all your dealings with them and that includes phone calls.

Thanks guys.

dmak, I have noticed they do seem to forget the small detail so to speak. One minute we're in MARP the next minute we're not, if you know what I mean. I try and keep as little conversation with them over the phone as possible and have asked to keep everything in writing. This did not go down particularly well. They want to do a lot of communication via phone but for obvious reasons I wont have this.

Without sounding too stupid why do you say keep record of phone calls. The reason I ask is because I had been told by a solicitor to get a transcript of any telephone calls I had with them. He seemed more interested in me getting this than he was anything else.

ACC primarily dealt with commercial mortgages and from what i've experienced have no interest or skills in dealing with personal mortgage problems. i've had several meetings in Dublin with them (after the Judge forced them to meet me)and it was like going into a business meeting where you don't speak the same language as everybody else. The loan manager I met left me feeling like I had come from Mars. He had no interest in dealing with our case and refused to even consider the possibility that there was a mechanism to deal with these type of problems.
Because of my experience I would recommend that you:
a)Have a Solicitor Present at all meetings with them
b)if you can afford a Solicitor, record the meetings on tape or on your phone and tell them that you doing so.
c)keep a call log and a letter log and try to get transcripts of any phone calls
d)be very sure of your rights and at every opportunity remind those who you are dealing with what they are.
e)REMEMBER that they do seem to forget that as a consumer you have a legal framework that you can use
f)do not let them bully you or suggest that you are in the wrong ,there are two parties here.

Best of luck, I hope you don't need it but ive heard that there desperate to get out of Ireland and will do anything in there power to mitigate there losses here.

Dmak's advise is invaluable. When dealing with these guys you need to keep every piece of paper they have issued you with. I would advise you to keep a diary of telephone calls/conversations you have with them, note times, dates lenght of conversation etc.

My wife and I have a mortgage with them and expect to hand back the keys in the coming weeks. We are paying less than interest only. One needs a steady nerve dealing with these people. Neither of us are getting any younger, so we do not envisage hanging around much longer, awaiting the bully boy tactics.

We have tried all ends up to fix the problems we have but they don't seem to want to meet us half way. It's really is crazy, as now we are handing bank the keys.

They are hassle to deal with full stop. There just seems to be no middle ground. My other half and I, have tried keeping our property but it just doesn't feel like a family home any more; so at this satge we want out, we are constantly living on edge.

I have been told by a friend that ACC are are among seven other banks who may make deals with their borrowers i.e. park part of the mortgage for a couple of years while you contine to pay off the other part??? Has annybody heard anythig along those lines?

I am aware of a case where ACC Bank Bankrupted a man over a business debt to take his home as well as his business. A receiver was appointed to his business over a year ago, he got a number of investors together and made a bid (double what they will now get for the business) to buy back the business but the bank wouldn’t deal!
The business is making a loss (results published on cro). The bank has endless funds to take him to the courts using a top legal firm and pay a receiver in a loss making business.
ACC made crazy decisions in the good times, seems like they have learnt nothing.
Some banks are looking for best realization for the bank and getting out of hopeless cases.
My advice to op work through the MARP process, keep on file copies of every correspondence.
As its your family home and the mortgage is not connected to business debt and you are paying the interest there is little they can do.

Thank you very much for your response. Strangely enough I have a commercial mortgage, but it is my home, I don't run a business from it yet when I mentioned this to the bank I was barked at and told I didn't have a commercial mortgage but would be put through the MARP system. Thankfully the property is not connected to any business debt.

The property is in drastic negative equity. I honestly feel like just dumping it there as I know I am in for one hell of a rough ride with these guys.

I + 1 to everything zipit has said.

Firstly I can not stress how important it is to keep every single corrospondence you receive and send to the bank. Ask then for a copy of your mortgage file under the data protection act, a list of minutes and any data they hold on you via telephone calls. Constantly keep yourself informed of the new insovency bill. Let them know you are well aware of your rights. As mentioned above sometimes they forget this.

Plenty of property developers borrowed excessive amounts of money from the bank during the boom so I would shudder to see their profit and loss sheet. They let go 200 staff over a year or two ago so that maybe an indicator.

The TAX payer should be greatful this is a bank we are not bailing out!