Evidence that there was a systematic campaign to get people off their trackers

Brendan Burgess

Founder
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I think it would be useful to compile evidence of this as Jeremy Masding was unable to find it.
If you have any documentary evidence of any of these, please email it to me at brendan at this website.


Is there any contemporaneous evidence from posts on askaboutmoney or other discussion forums?
  1. No penalty to break out of fixed rates when you were entitled to a tracker on expiry of the fixed rate
  2. It appears that not one borrower was advised that they would lose their tracker
  3. Those who were not entitled to trackers on expiry of their fixed rates, were not allowed to break out of their fixed rates without a penalty this post
  4. Some borrowers were told that this was a special offer for 28 days - Phil's post from Fuzzy10
  5. The process for breaking out was very simple - the borrower just had to send a fax.
  6. Some borrowers reported getting cold called by their branch suggesting that they could break out for free
    Joannmct
    and [URL='http://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/ptsb-why-did-you-break-your-fixed-rate.195132/page-2#post-1440030']CarolineK    [/URL]
  7. For those who did wait until the expiry of their fixed rate, the SVR was much lower than the tracker rate on offer
 
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Evidence for point 7 from HC2015

We did not break out of our fixed term. In Dec 2009 (month before coming off 4.79% fixed rate) we were offered a SVR, Tracker or various fixed rates, detailed below. We went for the Variable, stupidly thinking it was more affordable. Sure enough, within months, the Variable rate shot up and up.

 
o the penalty is the amount you pay for breaking your fix, normally 3 months interest, apparently according to fuzzy there was another fee, called a switcher fee, like a bank charge that was waived. It's the first time I've read about this.

But in the past when one got a mortgage there was sometimes an arrangment fee, so I'm guessing it's something like that. It would be a fixed amount rather than a percentage.

I see though your link is to the post about the 'switcher fee' that is not a penalty.
 
Bronte. I enquired about breaking from a fixed to an SVR. There was a penalty fee (12k). Please reread the post. When I asked to break out of fixed in jan09 I was refused.
 
Bronte said:
there was another fee, called a switcher fee, like a bank charge that was waived. It's the first time I've read about this.
Click to expand...

I think it's just posters using imprecise terminology. It's the same thing whether you call it a "break fee", "early repayment penalty" or
"switcher fee"
 
fuzzy10 said:
Bronte. I enquired about breaking from a fixed to an SVR. There was a penalty fee (12k). Please reread the post. When I asked to break out of fixed in jan09 I was refused.
Click to expand...

So to clarify, the penalty (some months interest) is the same as what you referred to as a 'switcher fee'?
 
I was also told in Jan 09 that there was an ECB rate reduction to be passed onto existing SVR customers only, bringing the SVR from 4.65% to 4.15% on Feb 13th. This ECB rate reduction would only be passed to existing SVR customers, and any new SVR customers after this date would get a rate of 4.65%. So if I waited until the end of my fixed term in Aug 09, I would get the 4.65% SVR. Here is a snippet from the fax I sent to terminate my fixed rate, which states a short piece about the ECB rate and SVR:



They have no phone record of this, even though I have the date and name of person I spoke with. Also, I actually asked in branch (with mortgage adviser) and on the phone would I not be entitled to my tracker back and I was told no, so thought this was a second best option.

When I complained in 2010 I was informed I would not have been told either of the points above.
 
Hi kaza

Please clarify something.

Were you told that you were not entitled to the tracker back when the fixed rate term expired?

Or were you told that if you broke, you would lose your entitlement to a tracker?
 
Kaza why were you in contact with the bank in Jan 09. Did they contact you first?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Hi kaza

Please clarify something.

Were you told that you were not entitled to the tracker back when the fixed rate term expired?

Or were you told that if you broke, you would lose your entitlement to a tracker?
Click to expand...

I was told I would not be entitled to tracker on completion of my fixed rate, in store and on the phone. Hence, I thought the SVR move was a second best option as such. When I brought my complaint forward in 2010 ( when I realised the terms in my mortgage contradicted this), I was informed the person in store at no recollection of the conversation and they had no phone record.
 
Funny that because my PTSB mortgage consultant failed to minute the meeting at which he told me we were not entitled to a tracker and would not be offered one on completion of fixed rate either!
 
Bronte said:
Kaza why were you in contact with the bank in Jan 09. Did they contact you first?
Click to expand...
I went in store of my own accord in Jan 2009 to inquire about whether I would get my tracker back at the end of my fixed rate. I had been hearing that they had removed them and was worried I would no longer be entitled to it on completion of my fixed rate in Aug 09. When originally moving to fixed I had gotten a verbal agreement that I could return to tracker, but nothing in writing at the time. So I wanted to check in store the lay of the land. I did not realise the terms of my tracker stated I should return to tracker at the end of my fixed.
 
Kaza do you remember where you 'heard' that trackers wer being removed in 2009? Media, website perhaps.
 
I definitely heard it through the media .not 100% but possibly ireland AM as there was a discussion about how the banks were trying to help struggling customers.I suppose if Ireland AM could be checked for january 09 .I then contacted ptsb to enquire and was able to move without penalty from end of january 09
 

This is the exact same story as me.

I phoned the branch that I took the mortage out,I phoned open 24 aswell .Both told me that I was not going to be put on a tracker
 
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