First Active/Ulster Bank refunding 5% TRS?

pebbledash

Registered User
Messages
104
First Active and Ulster Bank still haven't adjusted their system to supply the full 25% trs for FTBs. When they do adjust it I've been told that the refund of 5% will be spread over the remaining months of the year.

This is quite clever of them. They can gain interest on €€€s of other peoples money instead of paying them back in a lumpsum as they should.

Anyone else think this is unfair? I think that cash should be in my account gaining interest, not theirs.
 
Hi Pebbledash,

Did Ulster Bank say when there system will be adjusted? I was about to call them...

Thanks
 
As far as I can tell FA have stopped caring! Just look at their bloody rates
 
Im fixed at 5.7% for another three years so I care about this TRS!! if I try and break out of the fixed rate they can charge me 20k
 
Im fixed at 5.7% for another three years so I care about this TRS!! if I try and break out of the fixed rate they can charge me 20k

Have you checked to see how much or is that your own calculation? Obviously it depends on your mortgage size etc, but the FA variable rates are not that competitive, 20k seems a little high to me (of course, I know none of your details).

But back to the OP, and that FA are dragging their heels all over the place.
 
Hi Kine,

Ok maybe its less, but if its say 10-20k you have to pay this up front. Maybe in three years the rates will still be low, hopefully...
 
Hi Pebbledash,

Did Ulster Bank say when there system will be adjusted? I was about to call them...

Thanks

They said it wouldn't be before June. Revenue said they were given until July initially.

All of their rates, fixed and variable, are awful. Customer service is really terrible. I have asked them lots of times now to send me written notification of what rate I was fixed at. I know what it is but never got it in writing. They have sent my personal details to wrong addresses and lost 50% of what I supplied them with at time of application.

Their rates are so bad I really think that they should be forced to pass on only the minimum penalty needed for them not to make a loss for those wanting to break out of fixed rates.

Makes me sick to think that my taxes are rising to keep the banks cushioned when they won't give back even the minimum.

Back to my original question. Should they be made refund the 5% TRS in a lumpsum rather than sit on our interest for the rest of the year?
 

couple of things to bear in mind about UB/FA. Firstly they have not received one penny from the Irish taxpayer, it was the British taxpayer that bailed out their parent organisation, RBS

FA are also integrating with UB in October of this year, as a result most FA branches will close and the FA brand will completly disappear.

As for them being clever in relation to them not giving full TRS at this stage, I think you are giving them too much credit, the issue did not lie with FA/UB, rather it is an RBS issue as FA/UB systems set on the RBS platform and they do not seem to be able to cope initially with the 2 rates

Lastly 10% of the UB/FA staff are going to lose their jobs between here and year end, hence why some of them may have lost interest in what they are doing

I've had my own hassle with UB over mortgages and share the frustration many people on here have expressed in the past. They really have got worse in the last 3-4 years
 
couple of things to bear in mind about UB/FA. Firstly they have not received one penny from the Irish taxpayer, it was the British taxpayer that bailed out their parent organisation, RBS

Well they've still been bailed out and are giving nothing back.



I know it was a technical problem. The issue is with the refund, not the delay.

Lastly 10% of the UB/FA staff are going to lose their jobs between here and year end, hence why some of them may have lost interest in what they are doing

They were never interested in the first place. The people I dealt with were really sloppy workers and lost everything I gave them, failed to communicate effectively with their customers. That was before job losses were announced. I hope the person I have to deal with will be gone because they are terrible to deal with.
 
Hi All,

Any update on when we can expect the trs refund/reduced monthly payment?
 
i believe you will see the correct banding of trs from late june, so it will, affect your trs credits and payments in July.
 
Hi,

I posted a thread about this a while ago - I'm a First Active customer and they tell me it won't be adjusted until July - this is 9 months after the Budget (this was announced in Oct 08 budget). Revenue said that most banks had applied it from January but some were not in a position to do so until later in the year. As usual nothing from the bank in writing to say either way. Personally I think it's a dsigrace, they can adjust interest rates monthly, no problem so what's the big deal with adjusting TRS I ask????
 

they sent a letter to all their customers at the start of may.

adjusting the trs for them is complex, it envolves testing and configuration of their multiple systems, dont forget they use RBS systems which are from the uk, they dont have trs in the uk. so their systems when brought in would have only being able to provide the basics as their mother ship wouldnt have wanted to spend much time or money initially on something they didnt really care about.
why dont you ring them or look at the other many threads on trs in this website, if you feel hard done by, your still going to get the money you are owed.
 
..............wouldnt have wanted to spend much time or money initially on something they didnt really care about.

You pretty much summed up the whole poisoned ethos of the banking sector in todays world.
 
they sent a letter to all their customers at the start of may.

why dont you ring them or look at the other many threads on trs in this website, if you feel hard done by, your still going to get the money you are owed.

Indeed. I can equally imagine your moaning if you were incorrectly paid so it seems they can't win...
 
Indeed. I can equally imagine your moaning if you were incorrectly paid so it seems they can't win...

i have been incorrectly paid by them, by 2.5%
but i know i will get the money back.
they gave me a time frame, and i am happy with that.
if they were saying ah we will fix it soon id be going mad until they fixed it, but i know for the last 6 months of the year my payments will be lower than the first 6 months thus saving me money in the summer season and the run up to xmas
 
I didn't receive any letter from them in May - usual bad customer service.

I have no problem with them not applying the TRS increase immediately. I just think that the refund should be in one payment not spread out over the remaining months of the year. Why should they earn interest on our money by keeping it until the end of the year. Revenue said it was up to the banks to decide how to refund the difference.
 

i dont know where you get your information from, but first active and ulster bank do not get the trs money from the government until after they pay it to the customers.
so they have only been paid for the money passed onto you so far,
they have not been paid the money you should have received.
 
i dont know where you get your information from, but first active and ulster bank do not get the trs money from the government until after they pay it to the customers.
.

I was talking to Revenue and to First Active. Revenue said it was up to First Active how to pass it on - lump sum or in stages. Then I rang First Active and was told that they were choosing to do it in stages. When I asked the question about them gaining interest on my cash I was told that it was the decision that has been made, and was told I could lodge a complaint. So you'd think they'd have corrected me there?

It seems that some people in Revenue and in First Active don't have a clue how it works.