Problem with Ulster Bank House Mortgages

On 16 March 2007 I hand delivered a cheque in the amount of Euros 29,000.00 to Ulster Bank House Mortgages, College Green. In my covering letter I informed them that the purpose of the cheque was to reduce the capital amount borrowed. I also informed them that I wished to shorten the term of my mortgage and maintain the same level of monthly payments going forward increasing in line with ECB interest rate increases.

At the end of March I received a letter from the Bank confirming receipt of the cheque and the revised capital amount outstanding. They also informed me that my new gross monthly repayment would be EUR 522.00 when it should have been EUR 794.00 (the current level as of 1 April 2007). I e-mailed the Bank three times at the beginning of April pointing out their mistake and asking to rectify their mistake. I did not receive an acknowledgement to any of my e-mails.

On 13 April I wrote a short letter to the manager of the Ulster Bank Mortgage Centre along the lines below:

1. Why did you fail to carry out the instructions in my letter dated 16 March (attached)?

2. Why did you fail to reply to three e-mails from me (attached) drawing attention to your error?

3. How does the Bank propose to compensate me for the interest I will now overpay on this account due to your failure to carry out my instructions?

4. What procedures are in place in the Bank to monitor and deal with incoming e-mails from customers?

I am really sick and tired of financial institutions in this country. Having switched mortgages and paid off mortgages in recent years I have been dumbfounded at the incompetence of the financial institutions I have dealt with. They have mislaid deeds, lost life assurance policies and generally failed to carry out simple and clear instructions. In one case a financial institution mislaid the original of a life assurance policy and tried to get me to fill in a lost policy form. Is it possible for ordinary individuals to object to the renewal of banking licences on the basis of incompetence or that the institution is not fit for purpose.

This problem with the Ulster Bank is just one problem too far for me. If the shoe was on the other foot and I was the one at fault I am sure they would plague me almost daily to resolve the problem At what stage in this process is it acceptable for me to bring this problem to the attention of the relevant financial regulator – I have already send Ulster Bank three e-mails and a letter.


EdwardG

I recall from having similar service issues with Ulster Bank (but not as big) that they would respond to your queries within 10 working days. As it is clear that they have not, I would escalate your dispute directly to IFSRA and copy UB in your correspondence.

Don't hold your breath. I am still waiting 3/4 years for a reply to two written complaint letters. One sent to their Dublin HQ and the other to their Belfast HQ.
I withdrew all but €20 from a saving account, but they sent be the full amount and closed the account. I rang up to ask why, and got told the account required a minimum balance of €500. Need less to say, it was not in their terms and conditions (I checked in both the original T&C and the current T&C before withdrawing the money). I then got a cheque for about 2k interest a couple of days later!!!! Oh well, it is their loss and NRs gain.

Towger.

I had a problem with Ulster Bank a few months ago. To cut a long story short, I took out a bank draft of about €8k to pay my solicitor but they didn't take the cash from my account for a couple of months. I should have realised I was a bit more flush than I should have been but I nearly had a heart attack when it actually did clear - it was so long since I'd withdrawn it that I thought my account had been skimmed. Ended up a letter was at home for me telling me about the delay with debiting the draft but it was too late because I'd already cancelled my cards. Rang first thing the next Monday and asked to speak to the girl who had sent the letter. Asked her why she hadn't rang me and she started getting snotty saying she didn't have my number. I told her I have a €325k mortgage through their branch so why not? She said it was held at a different centre and I asked did they not have a telephone number. As you said, if the shoe was on the other foot and I owed them €8k, I'm sure I'd be getting multiple calls. Anyway, this went on and she was being really awkward so I fired off an email to the bank manager basically saying I accepted that an honest mistake had been made but their inability to get my mobile number and the girls attitude were simply not acceptable. Got a phone call from the manager apologising plus a promise to lodge €100 into my account as a goodwill gesture. Didn't really care about the money to be honest, it was just her attitude with my money that really p***ed me off.
I suggest you get the managers name and ring them - if they won't take your call email them, tell them you're going to switch to another bank and will lodge a formal complaint with UB's head office, naming both the manager and the cashier you were dealing with. Feck it, contact the Financial Regulator when you're at it. Betcha you'll have a call the following day.
Good luck - don't let them get away with it.

Found out I'm being charged 5.4% interest on a UB Ufirst tracker mortgage , LTV is less than 60% so rate should be 4.8% or lower. Have had a healthy account there for over 10 years, dropped a lot of cash on insurances etc in that time. Spoken to mortgage centre in Dublin who referred me to the branch in Dundalk who are checking with ...mortgage centre in Dublin. Abysmal service ,costing me money. Will follow the above advice and write a letter using the term 'incompetence' to the branch manager and the mortgage centre manager tomorrow.
And if and when I get compensated, switching stage left!
Are UB really that bad or are they all the same??

Was speaking to a broker and apparently UB switched over to a new system in October. It means that all transactions such as direct debits go through some centre in England - which also deals with about five other banks. So if you want to get anything set up or cancelled it could easily get lost en route

"In one case a financial institution mislaid the original of a life assurance policy and tried to get me to fill in a lost policy form."

Not being smart, but why is this a bad thing? Am I missing something?

UB have screwed up big time twice for me in the last 6 months.
Mortgage:

At the beginning of Augst‘06 applied for a mortgage. I rang the branch every week or two to find out where the money was. Each time I rang, there was a different problem with the application. I would go and sort that problem and then phone a week later only to find out that there was an other problem…but unless I rang, they never bothered their barnie getting back to me to sort out the application. It seems UB mortgages where not communicating with the branchs. Eventually in Nov '06 the vendor wanted to close the sale and I had to plead with the branch to sort out something. Lot’s of phone calls and stress later we managed to get the funds but only thanks to the sheer hard work of the staff at the branch.

Same day electronic transfer of funds…yaa right!

In March 07 was buying a car in England. Made the deadline for ‘same day transfer of funds’, £1600, on the Thursday. I was in England on the following Monday morning and guess what…no money in the UK bank account….had to get a cash advance on the credit card to complete purchase of the car…it was soo embarssing!!! Went into the branch when I got back, fuming, and they claimed the branch had sent it through to Dublin and that Dublin had not put it through until Monday afternoon because they were ‘snowed under’ The charges and interest on the credit card came to €100 more than the transfer but I got this refunded…seems like there’s a huge problem with inadequate numbers of staff in UB HQ?????

TOP TIPS FOR RUNNING A BANK:

• IT’S CHEAPER TO HOLD ONTO EXISTING CUSTOMERS RATHER THAN SPENDING MILLIONS ON ADVERTISING TO GET NEW CUSTOMERS!!!
• USE SOME OF YOUR INFLATED PROFITS TO EMPLOY A FEW MORE STAFF TO GET THE JOB DONE!!

Sorry to add insult to inury, but you may not be aware of this - Ulster Bank are offering a better tracker rate to switchers from other insitutions. I believe that the best rate that on can get is as a U first account holder with an LTV of less than 80%.

However a switcher customer with the same criteria can get a .2% better rate. Having spoken with both the Dubiln Mortgage Centre and my branch, I've discovered that there is nothing that I can do.....except switch of course!

Sorry to add insult to inury, but you may not be aware of this - Ulster Bank are offering a better tracker rate to switchers from other insitutions. I believe that the best rate that on can get is as a U first account holder with an LTV of less than 80%.

However a switcher customer with the same criteria can get a .2% better rate. Having spoken with both the Dubiln Mortgage Centre and my branch, I've discovered that there is nothing that I can do.....except switch of course!

While I suspect that all banks experience some of the problems detailed below, I believe that UB have been consistently poor for about a year now and I'm fed up with it.

G

gregor said:

Sorry to add insult to inury, but you may not be aware of this - Ulster Bank are offering a better tracker rate to switchers from other insitutions. I believe that the best rate that on can get is as a U first account holder with an LTV of less than 80%.

G

Click to expand...

Sorry Gregor, I missed that, what do you believe is the best rate for a Ufirst accounter holder with less than 80% LTV?
Thanks

I don't let myself get mad anymore, life is too short. Why not set up a new standing order to Ulster Bank for the difference between your old payment and the new one they have foisted on you?

Has anyone on the UB tracker mortgage managed to get them to stop charging the €9/month fee for Ufirst account?

Has anyone on the UB tracker mortgage managed to get them to stop charging the €9/month fee for Ufirst account?

Click to expand...

Yes - I went to the branch where my actual account was and did so there and then by signing a form to 'downgrade' to the free current account.
To the original query, I'm not a fan myself but I wrote a letter and hand-delivered it to the manager (when told she/he was not available asked for name of person taking the actual letter) and I got a written response to sort out the problem in a few days. I would send another letter to the manager. To be fair, the difference in payments will be minimal if its sorted out soon enough.

Hi Elcato,

Has UB a policy on this, as I thought that if you take out a tracker mortgage you must have a Ufirst account with the accompanying fee of €9/month?

I'd be afraid they would up my mortgage rate if I went with free CA as that was mentioned at the start as reason for paying for ufirst.

The €9 charge per month for the Ufirst account isn't too bad when you take into account the travel insurance for you and your partner that comes with it. Just make sure you're not paying another provider for travel insurance too.

Has UB a policy on this, as I thought that if you take out a tracker mortgage you must have a Ufirst account with the accompanying fee of €9/month?

Click to expand...

Their policy is to give you a further .1% discount on the tracker if you have a ufirst account. If your mortgage is below 200k then the saving is not that good but anythng above means a saving of a few euro.

Ulster bank have a complaints procedure in place. The first port of call is the branch with which you have your dealings. They should respond within 10 days. If no response is received, you then write to their complaints department-this should be available on their website. Make sure you register your letter and request to be assigned someone to deal with your problem directly. If no response is received within a reasonable time, usually 10 days, I think, you can then go to the financial regulator.

Alternatively demand all information on you from the bank by making an access request under the data protection acts of 1988 & 2003. They have 40 days to respond to this and there is a fee of 6.35. I had to resort to this course of action with them on a different matter. I got my file from them in a prompt manner and it made for interesting reading. If they do not respond to an access request, then the data protection commissioner can intervene.

Mangos

I switched bank account to UB recently and found them excellent, I am also in the process of switching mortgage and so far so good, although its a bit of a go slow at the moment the ball appears to be in first american title insurance companys court, but a couple of weeks is all I am talking about which is nothing in the mortgage game.

One tip for people when switching bank account and/or mortgage is to do everything via email where possible. I have a paper chain of everything.

I also got a bit lucky I think, when I called in to switch I got to deal with the manager and have been emailing them ever since as my point of contact.

I got my €150 deposited to my account fairly quickly too.

We have our mortgage with Ulster bank. We were looking for a better deal elsewhere and needed a mortgage statement in order to apply to alternative institutions. It took almost 3 months to get the statement having rung at least once a week every week. Everyone I came in contact with over the phone in UB assured me that they had sent it. I finally got in contact with a lady in the complaints department telling her of my experience. I told her that I was going to tell everyone I knew to stay away from UB- that they were incompetent regarding administration and that they had cost me money while waiting to change mortgage. She had the statement faxed to me immediately and another sent in the post along with an apology and a food hamper!
We may now end up staying with UB as they are willing to match the best interest rate we could find as long as we open a UFirst account.

Aside from the good interest rate which we're getting and the 9euro per month charge does anyone else know of advantages/disadvantages of this type of account?