Hi A1
First of all, the Appeals Panel is an extra chance for a borrower to sort out the problem. It does not reduce their right to go to the Ombudsman or the High Court in any way.
Second, by submitting your Appeal and looking at the bank's response, it helps you to articulate your complaint to the Ombudsman much better.
I agree fully that the AIB Appeals Panel is a disgrace. Sending everyone the same rejection note irrespective of the argument made. However, it was not a waste of time in that AIB in, at least two cases I am familiar with, hanged themselves with their response. The Appeals Panel did not see this, but I would be fairly confident that the Ombudsman would.
I attach the figures from the Central Bank final report. 55% of appeals from all the banks have been upheld or partially upheld.
You can now go to the Ombudsman and in your complaint, you can set out your arguments and you can anticipate AIB's response. This should speed up the process of getting a decision. But the Ombudsman has a lot of complaints on trackers and they are complicated, so it will take time.
Brendan