Hi all, just letting ye know my partner got a final response letter from EBS which states that she is not impacted and that it would be the final letter she would receive from them. In it they say" she chose to avail of an EBS mortgage through an appointed EBS intermediary and that as such no EBS staff met or had any contact with her nor did EBS offer product advice or sell the product directly to her". It goes on to say that at the time she applied for the mortgage, tracker interest rates were available as an option for her(in addition to a range of other interest rate options). It says that these options were also publically advertised and available and that it was her decision as to which optionshe applied for and the obligation rests with her as the customer to advise her intermediary accordingly. It goes on to say that if she wished to avail of a tracker interest rate that a separate ttracker mortgage rate application form was required to be completed and that EBS tracker interest rates were widely available on private dwelling house mortgages from 31/3/04-13/10/08. It then goes on to state that sheapplied for a fixed rate mortgage and that on expiry the loan will convert to the applicable variable rate then prevailing and the interest rate basis will be specifiedin the loan offer letter issued by EBS. It later says that the applicable variable rate on expiry of the 3 yr fixed rate was in fact 3.23% as per the 2010 annual loan statement which i for one dont recall seeing in the SARS documentation sent to her. It then says their "Standard/Base Prevailing Variable Interest Rates are not linked to nor do they track the ECB rate and that it is at EBS discretion whether to increase or decrease these interest rates. It also says thatif she had applied for a tracker rate her loan offer would have stated the interest rate basis as the variable ECB Base plus an apllicable margin. With a trackermortgage the margin is linked to a specific index or indicies and remains constant for a specified period. It also states that 'the EBS Standard/Variable/Prevailing Interest rates are not linked to ECB and that she can take a complaint to the FSPO if dis-satisfied.
Dis-satisfied is putting it mildly, she is furious with the way the letter is done and she feels theyre treating her in it. Appears to me like some said on this forum that theyre blaming the brokers. For starters a 3 year fixed rate is put in her documentation as a condition of her getting the mortgage and i when seeing it felt she was left with no choice. Secondly they say these trackers were widely available and advertised, if so im open to anyone her telling me that was the case. Thirdly my partner like most wouldnt have had much knowledge of what to do here or what to go for, both tracker and variable were the same rate if i remember correctly back then. Fourtly the only refetence to an interest rate basis in her offer letter is that it would convert to a "Variable base rate",the VBR ,but there is no reference to a "Standard/Base/Prevailing Variable Interest Rate". The word standard doesnt appear in her contract, she is now on an SVR. They never once referred to what i stated about the VBR exactly tracking at ECB +1.25% which a few on here have said they have done also. Finally as were away next week she has agreed to get in touch with Padraig Kissane on our return but that if he agrees with EBS's letter after reviewing her documentation that will be the end of it. Sorry about the length of this but as there are others on this site in a similar position i wanted to give a good grasp of whats happening. Any comments or opinions on whether people feel EBS are right or otherwise i do welcome.
