Tracker victims at the Oireachtas Finance Committee 9.30 am today

Thanks @Wardy7 No end in sight for us rate issue people, too many years of our lives wasted on this, time for the Banks to do the right thing (feeling hopeful).
 
Padraic Kissane introduces four victims


Thomas Ryan ptsb customer who had a stroke Ryan vs. ptsb court case - Went to High Court - a tape discovered
Appeals Panel rejected their appeal for compensation

Niamh Byrne - Ulster Bank - ECB +.85% - would return after fixing. Switched in 2009 to AIB. Won at FSO in €25k but did not get her tracker back. I had won cases

Helen Grogan - PhD in Biology. 1% tracker with EBS. 2008 switched to ptsb for cheaper discounted rate. But 2.25% after discounted period. FSO found in favour of ptsb Has attended ptsb'#s AGMs

Hazel Melbourne - ptsb - Customer Appeals Panel rejected their claim in total.
Padraic asserts that they are on the wrong rate - but does not explain why.
 
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Pearse Doherty

Thanks them on behalf of the party and on behalf of all the other people affected.

Do you have confidence in the Central Bank? One bank will not meet the deadlines.Another has told us that they know that some have lost their rates but have not put them back.

Padraic: I had a meeting on Tuesday with them. They arrived late, but they are doing good work now. The CB grasps it. It is taking time but I have faith in the CB. They are our only hope. They are presenting here on the 19th. They are prevented from saying what they would like to say.

[ it looks as if only two Sinn Féin and one FG senator present]

Pearse: Should the government put pressure on the state owned banks

Padraic: It's up to the banks - there is an enforcement action by the CB into Ulster Bank.

Pearse: I am struggling with what the banks told us recently. There are more affected than we thought. But what do we do about it? You have confidence in the Central Bank. But the banks are not fixing it? What do we do?

Padraic: If the CB hasn't got the powers, then you could give them. I am not certain that the CBI doesn't have the powers.

Pearse: What about the FSO? Should they deal with complaints now? They have been refusing because the banks are still dealing with trackers.

Padraic: A couple of issues. I have improved confidence in the new FSO - Ger Deering. Better than the previous FSO. The average uphold was 10% when I was at 75% - if they did not know how to present it, they had very little chance of success. But you are probably better off to wait for the CB review to finish.

Pearse: What is wrong with the internal appeals process? Which banks are getting it right and which are getting it wrong?

Padraic: ptsb - 100% of the serious cases to the Independent Review Panel have been resolved - largely to the satisfaction of the customer. only 1 of the Customer Appeals Panel was successful.

Hazel Melbourne: reads a statement. We struggled for 6 years and then got a letter to say it was their error. We were unsuccessful in our appeal because we did not show that the losses were caused by the bank's failure. How can they have an appeals process which is not independent. There should be an independent process. [ BB's comment: There is. She can go to the FSO or the court now that her appeal is rejected????]
 
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Niamh Byrne

In 2008 when the fixed period ended, I was put on an SVR which I challenged for 9 months.
In May 2009 I was on a variable 3.85% but aib had 2.5% rate - I had no choice,so I switched.
There was no discussion of trackers in the media at the time.
In 2012, I saw that Ulster were allowing tracker holders to move their tracker mortgage to a new house
Went to the FSO - asked how long it would take - they told 5 months
Finished in DEc 2014. Delayed 5 times as FSO needed clarification from Ulster Bank.
By the FSO's standards, I had a victory. They gave me €25k but did not give me back my tracker.

When it hit the media the following autumn, I did a data protection order on the bank. Internal emails showed that if I had been a customer I would get a tracker back. For Ulster Bank, the Ombudsman was a no lose situation. If I won, they would not have to give me back my tracker.

I went back after the bank. I wrote to them every week last year - 40 times. I had a meeting with Ulster in December. They spent the meeting telling me to stop writing to them. In January 2017 they deemed me as impacted.

I know my case is more complicated because I switched banks.

I wrote to the CB saying that they were not adhering to the CB guidelines.

So I applied to the FSO again. They told me in June that they had not got my online complaint as there were problems with the system. But they won't do anything until the examination is finished.

Last week, Ulster told you that there were 1,000 customers like me who had switched who had not been told.

It's 9 years and 2 months since this happened.

I am watching my mental health.

A brilliant performance.
 
Senator Rose Conway Walsh (FF Senator Horkan now present as well.)

Have any of you gone to the Gardaí?

Kissane: I am only interested in getting people back their trackers.

RCW: What do we need to do to allow class actions?

Niamh: I went to the Gardai and the Office of Director Enforcement. But they told me that the burden of proof was too high. Unless I had a whistleblower saying that it was deliberate.
 
Helen Grogan

I took out a 1% tracker with AIB

ptsb were offering a 0.8% tracker - I went into ptsb and they told me that it had been reduced to 0.6% for one year. I switched but after a year, they put me on 2.25%

[Lesson - turn off your phones before any committee meeting.]

They gave me options - a variable rate of less than 2.25% - so I took the SVR.


The ptsb rate went higher than anyone else's.

I started a complaint and went to the FSO. They found against me as Special Condition 9 allowed them to charge me what they like. My case is that they sold me an .8% tracker with a one year discount.

I have since switched from ptsb.

I have been overcharged by €40k. And will pay a total of €70k too much by the end of the mortgage.

I am coming up to retirement soon and will still have a mortgage when I retire.

Great emotion.

When I heard about Padraic's cases, I realised that I was not on my own.


They changed the meaning of what a tracker mortgage is. I knew what a tracker meant, they didn't.

Brendan
 
FG Senator on now. ( I missed the last 10 minutes.)

Padraic saying that the last Ombudsman didn't do a good job.

Senator: Are you saying that the CB is not using the powers it has?

Padraic: They are still of a receptive nature. They need to be directive
 
Chairman wrapping up - We will bring your stories from today to the Central Bank next week.

Padraic; I have staff from the banks with tracker problems. I have staff from the accountancy firms and staff from the legal firms who have tracker problems.

Brendan
 
Congrats to all who appeared today but I am baffled at the free pass being given to the Central Bank for this ongoing farce.
The Central Bank appears on 19th (this day next week) before the Finance Committee. Time to make submissions if you haven't done already.
They did respond to press queries last Friday stating that they are constrained by legislation and cannot force the banks to resolve affected customers pre 2013. It'll be interesting to hear what they say on Thursday.
 
I watched the whole thing live and there is nothing stronger than people speaking out: real lives, real distress, the ongoing stress and anxiety caused by this. These are the voices that need to be heard. I have done a big news interview for the Sunday Independent on how KBC nearly destroyed me over the last few years. It will be out this weekend. I have come out the other side and I no longer fear the banks. I will tell them exactly what I think of them. The jokes they made with each other when I went in for a meeting with them.... Admitting "off the record" that there was a tracker issue but forever denying it in writing.
We must all rise up against the banks and tell of our own personal real life impact. I've never spoken publicly about my still unresolved tracker dispute against the arrogant, ruthlessly greedy KBC bank. People will be shocked by the content but the time has come for it to be heard.
 
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