Should we have told the bank not to contact us by home visits or telephone calls?

bugler said:
There is nothing yet to suggest it was a bank official who made that remark, or anything like it. That's a leap you have made yourself!
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Fortunately or unfortunately I've been dealing with banks in one way or another all my life, starting with opening my mother's bank statement from my earliest memories as she was afraid to do so. At that time as a women she would have been unusual enough in having a bank account. So long before this bust I can smell what bankers say. It appears easy on the ear but is far from it. I've even had a senior bank manager in a main branch in one of the main cities lie straight to my face.
 
Banks have brought this state to the point of destruction. Why should we believe anything these people tell us?

The OP was 100% accurate in telling the bank to deal in writing. How are they suppossed to proove they are negotiating if they have nothing in writing. Its absurd to think otherwise.

I agree with Bronte. I've had bankers lie to my face also. In fact the biggest lie I've been told was I was not answering their calls when they phoned me. They NEVER did phone me. I've seen people's businesses being destroyed by lies told by banks. Come on everybody if you think these guys are Saints you must be living on cloud cuckoo land.
 
Just to confirm that the comment was made in passing by a banker
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By a person you deal with in the bank ? By someone dealing with this specific request ? or a person who just happens to work in a bank ? Either way I would not worry about upsetting them.
 
Generally if a client is communicating with their Bank in writing and there are no issues of concern or clarification required, the Bank will be happy to agree to this. There is no Bank policy of harassment or intimidation of mortgagors in difficulty. There can always be difficulties with certain individuals who do not abide by the general rules but Banks have a complaint process and any such complaints are taken seriously. In the majority of cases if a client has a preference for written communication only, that preference will be satisfactory, unless there is a communication breakdown.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
The bank is entitled to contact the borrower by phone and personal visit. The borrower is not entitled to refuse to take calls or visits.

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The bank may be entitled to contact you by phone, however there is no legal obligation on anyone to ever answer that phone! A ring phone is an invitation, not a summons, and I don't have to speak to anyone on my phone if I don't wish to.
Of course the borrower is entitled to refuse to take calls. Same with visits. I don't have to let anyone into my home if I don't wish to (other than specific legal exceptions).
 

I was going to start a new thread on this but probably it's best to keep it here.

A despicable practice has now arisen, of which I am one "victim" (for want of a better word!), where a letter arrives out of the blue accusing the borrower of not responding to "numerous attempts to contact you" and that an external "Debt Agent" will call within five working days to your home. I received one of these last week. I have arrears on my property but an arrangement in place since last June which is being kept and I haven't heard diddly squat from them since then.

For personal reasons my phone is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I check my email three times a day and check post daily. When I immediately rang the Bank on Friday morning to ask what attempts had been made to contact me, the girl (with the obligatory faux-Friends American accent) told me that no notes were on the system indicating contact in recent months.

What I think is happening here needs urgent investigation - it is clear that false customer profiles are being built with a view to an unfavourable impression of a borrower ultimately being given in Court, i.e. that the Bank did everything they could to facilitate the borrower but the borrower refused to co-operate under MARP.

It's a disgusting practice and I'm so angry I'm thinking of going to the papers with it.

So to the OP - insist on ALL communications in writing and writing alone.
 
Hi Shuttleworth, go to the PTSB section of this forum. You may find more information there, that's assuming it is PTSB we are talking about?

These letters have been sent out to both investment and residential customers in arrears. It seems they did not take into account people who had agreements in place.
 

I agree with your post. Banks have been telling lies since time began but in the past couple of weeks this seems to have accelerated.

For the past 2 to 3 years, since I fell into arrears on my mortgage, I had to deal with them telling me I was not communicating with them. This was a complete and other lie. they said they were unable to contact me and I was not answering phones etc. Absolute hogwash.

I wrote to them regularly, took on a second job and left myself short each month. The frustration around this time was immense. I am embarrassed to say at this point I felt like ending my life.

I decided not to let them win and wrote a letter of complaint. I have never complained about anything in my life, apart from the odd rant on here! Since the complaint they have never spread lies or send me misleading letters again, all in hope of making their court case for repossession look better.

Make a letter of complaint.
 

No it's not PTSB actually, but thanks for the tip - I'll have a look over there. Looks like all the banks need to get their IT systems overhauled - given all the "errors" being made.
 
I experienced difficulties in requesting information on phone records that we had made to PTSB only to be told that there were no such records. We keep details of all correspondance in a diary and were truely shocked at some of the responses from PTSB. I am all for written correspondance seeing as banks cannot be trusted. They have told lies from the very first day they started business. They are the ultimate poker players never showing their hand. A bank is only as good as the peoples confidence in said bank and the tied is begining to turn with more people withdrawing their funds on a daily basis
 
By the same token, can a taxpayer ring a state owned bank and ask for an update on the debt owed to the public? BOI and AIB and TSB together owe us 30 Billion, Anglo owes us 35 Billion, it would be nice to receive an explaination from time to time as well, can we call in as well?
 

I'd say your bang on the money there Shuttleworth, but you wasted your time telephoning last week. Instead write them a letter back stating what you've just written about being contactable and asking them to document what actual efforts they made to contact you.
 

Thank you...


And thank you.

I wrote a stinging letter stating blatantly what I thought they were at. I'll report back when (and if) I get a response.
 
Tell them they can ring you but all calls will be recorded. I had a family member with an agreement arranged with the bank to make repayments. The bank rang and were saying 'its not enough' even though there was a written agreement, the bank staff member was quite agressive and rude and for over 5 minutes kept saying 'its not enough' to everything my family member said. That was until they told them they'd been recording the phone call and were going to the Financial Ombudsman, funnily enough the tone of the conversation changed extremely quickly and it was suddenly enough.
Cover yourself, record the phone calls and take note of date/time and what was discussed.
 
I've been getting the odd call from an unknown number that would ring for a few seconds and then stop. Each time I would miss it but today I was on the ball and caught it in time. Low and behold it was one of my creditors. Putting two and two together I am guessing that each time my phone rang they were registering this as a missed call so they could accuse me of not answering my phone. If it wasn't so serious it would be hilarious.
 
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