AIB Recognising Brendan's contribution to the AIB Prevailing Rate Campaign

bungaro

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We have all got or are about to get life changing sums of money. I have been in this campaign from the start and we had all given up in late 2018 after getting a negative opinion from Senior Counsel. Brendan posted a New Year's resolution in the private forum that Counsel's opinion was wrong and he was not giving up. Without his clear argument, persistence and doggedness, AIB would have got away with it.

I know that Brendan does not do this for the money - Askaboutmoney is free after all - but I know that a lot of us would like to gift him money or donate money to one of the causes he supports. I have been hounding him to do something on this. We were ready to go last week, when he got distracted again by the simple vs. compound interest controversy. Even on relatively small things like this, he devotes a lot of time and energy to make sure it's sorted out to our advantage.

Brendan supports Irish artists who are having a tough time of it at the moment. I will let him explain how we can use our "Lotto win" to help these struggling artists.
The amount is up to you. Back in 2018 we got €500 each for professional fees. If we had paid this at the time to a solicitor or a financial advisor and got the result we have today, we would consider it money well spent. So that is what I am going to contribute. Of course, you might want to donate more or less.
 
Just a thought - what about an official GoFundMe that people can pay into for Brendan and
he can decide how the funds are spent? I did a GoFundMe for a sick friend in the past and it worked well.
 
Thanks Bungaro

It might sound perverse, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the campaign. It was great to see the effort made by a lot of people including yourself. It was hugely satisfying to see the Ombudsman system working properly and efficiently. And some of the posts where people spoke about the difference the money made were very moving. I was absolutely sure from the start that right was on our side and that is very motivational. I was also very, very angry at AIB for the pathetic arguments, used to deny people trackers "It was a service failure, and not a breach of contract" "We didn't have a prevailing rate because we had stopped offering trackers to new customers" "You didn't lose out because if we had offered you a tracker the tracker rate would have been up to 12% - three times higher than the SVR" "This was verified by an anonymous international firm of banking experts". The angrier I got the more motivated I got.

You were not being greedy or chancing your arm, you were just looking to get back what you had been overcharged. You have got most of it, but not all of it yet.

As you rightly say, I don't do it for money.

However, I am very interested in contemporary art. I am very concerned about artists who struggle at the best of times but who are really struggling now with many galleries closed and exhibitions cancelled. Some are finding it hard to pay the studio rent or even to buy their basic art materials. So I will pass on any gift I get to help practising artists. This could be either in buying one of their pieces and donating it to a public gallery or institution or it could be through helping them with the costs of an exhibition or the costs of running their studio.

As you say, people have reported that the redress received from AIB has been life changing for them. Believe me, much smaller sums would be life changing for many artists. And, of course, they would love to have their work in a public collection.

I will call it The Prevailing Art Fund.

You can transfer the money to me at

Account name: Brendan Burgess

IBAN: IE21ICON99027012699286

Please put either your name or your Askaboutmoney username in the payee reference or “Prevailing Rate” if you wish to give anonymously.

If you want an update on how the fund is being used after you have made the donation, please email me at brendan @ askaboutmoney com or send a private message to me

And Bungaro - thanks for pushing me on this.
 
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Thanks Bungaro

It might sound perverse, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the campaign. It was great to see the effort made by a lot of people including yourself. It was hugely satisfying to see the Ombudsman system working properly and efficiently. And some of the posts where people spoke about the difference the money made were very moving. I was absolutely sure from the start that right was on our side and that is very motivational. I was also very, very angry at AIB for the pathetic arguments, used to deny people trackers "It was a service failure, and not a breach of contract" "We didn't have a prevailing rate because we had stopped offering trackers to new customers" "You didn't lose out because if we had offered you a tracker the tracker rate would have been up to 12% - three times higher than the SVR" "This was verified by an anonymous international firm of banking experts". The angrier I got the more motivated I got.

You were not being greedy or chancing your arm, you were just looking to get back what you had been overcharged. You have got most of it, but not all of it yet.

As you rightly say, I don't do it for money.

However, I am very interested in contemporary art. I am very concerned about artists who struggle at the best of times but who are really struggling now with many galleries closed and exhibitions cancelled. Some are finding it hard to pay the studio rent or even to buy their basic art materials. So I will pass on any gift I get to help practising artists. This could be either in buying one of their pieces and donating it to a public gallery or institution or it could be through helping them with the costs of an exhibition or the costs of running their studio.

As you say, people have reported that the redress received from AIB has been life changing for them. Believe me, much smaller sums would be life changing for many artists. And, of course, they would love to have their work in a public collection.

I will call it The Prevailing Art Fund.

You can transfer the money to me at

Account name: Brendan Burgess

IBAN: IE21icon99027012699286

Please put either your name or your Askaboutmoney username in the payee reference or “Prevailing Rate” if you wish to give anonymously.

If you want an update on how the fund is being used after you have made the donation, please email me at brendan @ askaboutmoney com or send a private message to me

And Bungaro - thanks for pushing me on this.

Just when I thought you couldnt get any sounder

What a man.

Consider it done!
 
I haven't been involved with this campaign and I've just been following its progress here and in the media. I really do think that the end result is fantastic. Cheques for €10,000 to €15,000 arriving to 5,900 people. That alone could be €80 million. The write-down and interest on the write down together could total €300 million.

I love context for large numbers. The Government's bail-out for 3,500 pubs is €16 million. (Unfortunate timing that the cheques are arriving at a time when many pubs are closed, as I suspect that many of the recipients might have otherwise given their local publican a bit of celebratory business.)

I hope that as many of the recipients of the AIB money as possible will donate to Brendan's art fund.
 
Done, donated thanks again to everyone involved from this family of 6 who this will have an immeasurable impact on. I look at my own family and realize that's how many people this impacted so the true numbers are far higher than 5900.
 
Well deserved Brendan (Aka BB King) Donation made.

I demand that you take at least enough for a 6 pack of Heineken out of our donation and put the feet up.

Me and my wife tried and failed to get anywhere in the appeals board route and gave up hope until the Feb Decision. Thank you. We are forever grateful to you and the others on the forum who never gave up. Our mortgage is now no longer a burden having been reduced by 320 per month not to mention the unexpected interest refund too!!!
 
Hi Brendan

500 euro transferred to you with pleasure. So grateful to you for never giving up... because I almost did.

Take a bow Brendan!

Schad
 
what about an official GoFundMe that people can pay into for Brendan

Hi newinvest

Thanks for the suggestion. I had considered that but they charge a payment processing fee and they ask the donors to contribute towards the cost, so I was advised by people who had used it that if I had contact with the potential donors, just give them a bank account to transfer the money to.

Brendan
 
Donation made. Thanks again to Brendan, Karen, Bungaro and anyone else that got us to this point.
 
Donation made. Thank you Brendan and all the other people who got this over the line.

I still have ombudsman ahead for me for other properties that were impacted in the first round a couple of years ago - so not over yet. But this victory was a definite milestone.
 
Done, courtesy of AIB online banking! Thanks again Brendan. We'll always speak of you fondly in this household. Many thanks to Bungaro and others who also did so much to bring the group together and set a path forward.
 
Donation made with thanks Brendan.

I hope this next philanthropic adventure brings you great contentment.
 
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Donation made.

Even though it was a refund of our own money there was a feeling of elation in our house yesterday. Thanks for everything
 
Thanks to whoever it was who sent the e-mail today alerting us to the existence of this thread!

500 donated, with immense pleasure and gratitude.

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any sounder." Yeah, my thoughts exactly. A true champion of the people.

Happy to donate again when we get the remainder back per compound interest calculation. ;)
 
Donation made. thank you again Brendan and all involved for your tireless efforts. its an incredible outcome. Cannot thank you enough.
 
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