Ombudsman publishes some new cases on tracker compensation

Brendan Burgess

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I have extracted the decisions relating to trackers on the attached.

He has given some compensation in addition to the amounts awarded by the Appeals Panel but no massive amounts.

I will post about the ptsb prevailing rate in a separate thread.

Brendan
 

Attachments

  • Ombudsman Volume 5 feb 2021 Tracker decisions.pdf
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Very interesting that there were 88 overall tracker related decisions in 2020.
4 of which were upheld. 13 were partially upheld.
That's 71 tracker related decisions not upheld.
Wowsers.
 
That would be about right, but it's misleading.

He upheld the AIB Prevailing Rate case in 2020 and that figures as only one of the 4, but 6,000 benefited from it.

Brendan
 
FSPO don’t publish the cases where bank conceded and redressed customer. Few of them in 2020.
 
Or the cases where the customer had the situation explained to them and realised that they had no case at all.

Brendan
 
In the responses, the FSPO/Ombudsman is very even handed in the judgements.

I liked the below wording from one of the cases.

"He found that throughout the nine year period of the overcharge, the couple were denied the opportunity of making informed decisions about their finances, as they did not know the true position with respect to the repayments that were actually due and owing on the mortgage loan
account. During this time, they were challenged financially as they were paying off both their mortgage loans and the personal loan. As a result, the Ombudsman found the level of compensation offered was not sufficient or reasonable"
 
I’m sure there were plenty of them too Brendan and I hope that the FSPO can act swiftly and apply outcome of unsuccessful complaints to cohorts and speed things up. I’m just surprised he is taking so long with cohorts where bank has conceded & redressed customers and those with the exact same contract are left waiting for his decision.
 
B26354 said:
I hope that the FSPO can act swiftly and apply outcome of unsuccessful complaints to cohorts
Click to expand...

He has no authority to do that.

He judges every case on its own merits.

Of course, if he has done his thinking on the ptsb prevailing rate issue in a case, he will apply it to the next case, but must go through it from start to finish.

If he does uphold a case which he thinks has implications for others, he can refer it to the Central Bank who might direct the lender to apply it to others in the cohort.

Brendan
 
Oh I getcha. But what if bank concedes on complaint and he doesn’t have to make an official decision. Can he refer this outcome to the central bank so it is applied to wider cohort?
 
This has been raised before but I don't know what the outcome is. That a lender would drag a lost case all the way to the adjudication stage and then settle it when they see that that borrower has not lost the stamina to keep up.

The banks also try to avoid being named and shamed so they concede some at adjudication stage.

Brendan
 
I can confirm the outcome for the customer is redress. The FSPO is aware of the bank conceding too. Perhaps the threat of naming and shaming by the FSPO or customers on forums like here will force the banks hand.
 
If your case has implications for others and if you suspect wrongdoing by the bank e.g. dragging it out to discourage you, send in the file to the Central Bank.

They won't give you any feedback, but they will investigate it.

Brendan
 
Will do Brendan. Have been thinking about contacting the central bank for a while but was hoping the FSPO would make a call on it but seems like they are stalling and won’t make a decision.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
That would be about right, but it's misleading.

He upheld the AIB Prevailing Rate case in 2020 and that figures as only one of the 4, but 6,000 benefited from it.

Brendan
Click to expand...
Oh yes I know but as a proportion of cases decided it’s very interesting. The FSPO staff I’ve been dealing with have told me that there’s quite a lot of complaints from people not entitled to a tracker, it’s almost a relief for them to handle a legitimate tracker case. We have yet to reach Summary of Complaint stage due in no small part to stalling from the bank and their representatives. I can see how complainants are worn down by the time it reaches adjudication.
 
SaySomething said:
The FSPO staff I’ve been dealing with have told me that there’s quite a lot of complaints from people not entitled to a tracker, it’s almost a relief for them to handle a legitimate tracker case.
Click to expand...

That is brilliant.

There was a case in the digest of an insurance company rejecting a complaint for the theft of a car, because the owner had left the keys in the ignition.

They must have had a great laugh in the Ombudsman's Office when that came in. But at the same time, they had to go through the full procedure. Mediation. Exchange of views. Preliminary decision and Final decision.

They could have spent those resources dealing with legitimate cases.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
If your case has implications for others and if you suspect wrongdoing by the bank e.g. dragging it out to discourage you, send in the file to the Central Bank.

They won't give you any feedback, but they will investigate it.

Brendan
Click to expand...
Can you do this if your complaint is with FSPO.
 
'There was a case in the digest of an insurance company rejecting a complaint for the theft of a car, because the owner had left the keys in the ignition'

A timely reminder on these cold mornings not to leave your car warming up in your drive.
 
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