Ulster Bank Made Mistake with TRS. Increasing repayments on our tracker

unstacked

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Hi
Just off the phone with UB. They sent us a notification re; the recent ECB cut, it read your new monthly payment has increased.

Curious I got on the phone straight away and asked why? Long story short - turns out UB were applying the wrong TRS credit to our monthly payment ( they were deducting too much ) and now we have our tracker mortgage increased as a result by €130 pm to pay back their oversight.

I am phoning them again this eve to dicsuss further. I thought they couldnt touch the tracker ?

Do we have any options here?

I really dont trust UB now at all - mistakes seem to be happening all over the place..

Im furious though as our tracker being so low was really helping us cope financially

Can someone help or advise please?

Thanks
 
Based on your post it appears that your monthly mortgae payment is now being increased by UB as a result of an error made by them! This has nothing to do with the tracker rate applying to the mortgage.
However as this is a bank error, they should offer you some alternatives to a simple increase in your payments. You will need to formally contact them to complain that the error occurred and to advise them that you are not in a position to repay an increased amount. While your complaint is being addressed you can stop the DD and pay the mortgage directly, if you wish. Advise them that you are doing this. An error of this nature should not effect your credit rating nor should you be obliged to simply increase the loan repayments. You may be entitled to some interest refund as a result of overcharge due to the error but unfortunately you will have to ultimately meet the TRS adjustment. However, UB should offer you an increase in term in order to keep your mortgage payments at a level that does not account for their mistake!
 
Thank you very much Brendan
Sound advice as always
Will talk with them this evening and outline the points you have made
We did check and confirm with Revenue the figure for the TRS and it is correct
Still I would like to see a full outline of the mistake made
 
That's their responsibility unstacked! I am amazed that they did not send you specific details of the error, how it occurred and how they intend to rectify it and compensate you for any loss (additional interest charged!). This is the least that a client should expect from any reputable organisation and absolutely their responsibility.
There appears to be an attitude taken by some banks (and UB a consistent transgressor) that they have no responsibility for any mistakes made. It is up to the clients to ensure that issues such as this are fully investigated and an appropriate response and apology issued!!!
 
This is strange. I was getting too much TRS a few years ago as it turned out but I was notified by revenues trs office directly and asked to repay the amount due to them in one lump sum. How long were you overpaid the trs ? Did they indicate what the total owed from trs is ? How long is this overpayment to be for ? Seeing as you stated that the TRS according to revenue is incorrect then it appears to be some concocted story to make up for some mistake UB have made.
 
UB with another explanation

Phoned UB Mortgage Operations last week and they said they would look into it properly and reply to us. Received letter from UB today that says " Please note I have checked this payment and it is correct at €1243.47. Please note that in December the arrears amunt was capitalised and added to the balance. In this case, your repayment must increase in order to have the entire balance repaid within the term outstanding" etc etc

I distinctly remember speaking with UB about the re- capitalisation and asking them would it affect the Tracker and they said no it wouldnt.

Are they allowed to change the tracker terms?

We have been doing really well since re- capitalisation - no arrears and the mortgage coming down with the ECB was a huge help...

This has stumped me totally..not to mind the cock and bull story at the start of the thread about mis - applied TRS - why cant UB get it right...?
 
But has it affected the tracker? Is not the increased payment due to a larger amount having to be repaid over the same remaining term.
 
I thought the amount you pay on a tracker could not be increased by the bank?
Also...they did say in Dec that the mortgage would not be affected by the capitalised arrangement
 
The margin of interest above ECB cannot be changed but that doesn't mean the payments can't change if something changes them like TRS or in your case capitalisation of arrears.

If the European Central Bank rate increased then your tracker rate would increase too and your repayments would also increase so there is no rule says bank can't increase the repayments on a tracker.
 
I dont know what a tracker mortgage is, comes to mind.

lets say in december you have a mortgage of 100,000
and an arrears balance on top of this for the sum of 30,000.
before december your mortgage repayments were based on a balance of 100,000
after december your mortgage repayments were based on a balance of 130,000.

due to you capitalising the arrears.

your mortgage tracker has not been affected by this capitalisation
 
Unstacked;

Suggest stop phoning Ulster. Put and receive everything in writing.Looks like Ulster mistake. The problem is you are liable for the TRs shortfall.
As suggested ,contact Ulster (in writing) and depending on what you can afford.
1. Increase your monthly payments by XX?
2. Increase ongoing monthly payments to sort ongoing TRS difference.
3. Ask them to put (arrears due )onto end of term.

Capitalizing the (arrears) if you are on a tight budget and now caught by their issue seems unfair .
 
In a situation like this phone calls are not sufficient. You need to write to the Bank as per Gerry's comment and establish why this error occurred. It must have been an error made by the Bank and in such circumstances the Bank are obliged to offer you a solution that fits into your ability to pay. i.e. You are obliged to payback the amount overclaimed, but you should be offered the opportunity to do this over an acceptable timeframe. This has nothing to do with the tracker rate!!!
 
Some questions you need to ask UB (unless you know the answers) How much is the arrears ? Is this increased payment for the duration of the mortgage or is it just until the arrears are paid off ? How long are they saying you were underpaying by ?
 
The thing is - Ive been given two explanations now from UB as to why the monthly amt has increased:

  1. TRS error
  2. Capitalisation of the arrears
I want to know which one it is? or are both linked?
Capitalisation happened in Dec 13. Why did they say in Dec the tracker wouldnt be affected and why didnt the Jan 14 amount increase to account for the capitalisation ? ( why wait 6 mths?)

I dont thrust them at all.
 
The tracker isnt affected. take that out of your head. they havent altered your underlying interest amount + margin which is what the tracker is.
 
I do understand 'what a tracker mortgage is' :) and I get that the tracker product is not affected in itself...

But why didnt the Jan 14 amount increase to account for the capitalisation ?
 
But why didnt the Jan 14 amount increase to account for the capitalisation ?



It may be just that Jan is very busy, coming after the Christmas break, and they are closing off 2013 accounts etc before they examine everyone's TRS etc for the 2014 tax year.
 
The thing is - Ive been given two explanations now from UB as to why the monthly amt has increased:

  1. TRS error
  2. Capitalisation of the arrears
What arrears ? Do you have arrears on the mortgage aside from any TRS descrepancies ? Did you miss payments at some stage in the past ? or were you always underpaying the mortgage from the start ? There is no mention of arrears in any of your posts except that the trs payment was wrong which as far as I have stated then you owe money to revenue not UB.
 
If arrears were capitalised, that will increase the amount to be repaid over the remaining term of the mortgage and will lead to an increased monthly repayment. The fact that this increase was not imposed for a month or 2 may just be due to an internal error. In practise arrears capitalisation is in itself a change in the mortgage terms and conditions and the Bank should have issued you with a Variation Agreement which you would have signed. If they didn't do this they had no authority to amend the loan without your agreement!!!
 
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