O
odonoghe
Guest
Apologies in advance for my really long post however just reading this thread for the 1st time
Like most our situation is slightly unique I believe. We have already been written to and received compensation from AIB for redress for the tracker issue relating to our mortgage account. However the complexity arises from the fact that our mortgage account was split over 2 separate accounts just prior to drawdown in September 2008. Originally when applying, and the loan was being underwritten (I plan to request the underwiting docs and original loan application docs from AIB), we were intending to place the whole loan on tracker from the very start. Cast your minds back to September 2008 when there was a lot of volatility with interest rates where there had been a period of increasing rates. With this in mind plus childcare becoming an issue I spoke with my liason person in AIB for the loan who suggested a workaround would be to split the account between 50% Tracker and 50% 3 year fixed, the fixed rate being 5.2% compared with the Tracker rate of 5.75% (4.25% ECB + 1.5%) margin.
I agreed to go with this and have the original loan offers, both with the famous section 3.2 reference including the option to return to Tracker after a period of fixing.
Almost immediately into the loans, Oct/Nov 2008, ECB rates begin to plummet. From my recollection, and backed up by statements I received from AIB covering this period, I contacted AIB to see what options we had with the 3 year fixed loan as it was obvious Rates were only heading one direction and this would prove expensive if left at 5.2%. They gave us the option to break from the initial 3 year fixed loan without a breakage fee within a month of the original loan drawdown, offering the option to go onto a variable rate. An option to move to a Tracker was not forthcoming, keep in mind this coincided with the ending of the Tracker offering from AIB in Oct 2008. However as this proved a far cheaper option we accepted this at the time. I have requested an exact date and any documentation showing the status of this loan changing from AIB just this morning as I believe this to be key. At the time I was surprised AIB allowed us to seamlessly transfer to a variable rate like this with no breakage fee. The other Tracker loan was still in its original status at this point.
Fast forward 8 months to June 2009, with a second childcare cost to cover imminently and with a seemingly competitive offering of 4 year fixed at 3.57%, we decided to fix both loans thus moving from Tracker to Fixed for one loan and Variable to Fixed on the other loan. We wanted certainty at this point and didn’t realise the consequences to come down the track. There was no indication that an eventual return to Tracker would still not be possible, as per T & C's on both loans, at the end of this 4 year fixed period for either loan in the documentation we have marking this new 4 year fixed term.
At the end of the fixed term in June 2013 AIB wrote to us offering the standard range of variable and fixed options on both loans, the default variable being at 4.4%. No mention of options of returning to Tracker, which I now believe on both loans we were entitled to. This is even more relevant as at this point my wife was unemployed and we were on the vista of arrears which commenced in Aug 2013.
Fast forward to Oct 2014, after 14 months of battling AIB over how to handle our arrears issue we negotiated, via IMHO, a 3 year lower interest rate (2.5%) fixed schedule to expire October 2017.
In the interim in August 2016 AIB wrote to us regarding redress on the loan which had commenced life as a Tracker in 2008. They have subsequently offered us redress and compensation on this loan back to the original fixed date in June 2009, the compensation element I plan to appeal on the basis of our arrears issues with them, and unsecured lenders on their advice, and our current tattered ICB rating. This loan is now back on the rate of ECB + 1.5% margin, where it commenced.
However what I am now most interested in is the status of other loan which remains on the 3 year 2.5% re-schedule until October 2017. This loan, which started off life briefly as a 3 year fixed, quickly flipped to variable at no breakage within 1-2 months of drawdown, and subsequently re-fixed for 4 years some 9 months later. Worse case scenario I imagine they will offer us a return to Tracker, probably at a margin of 3.67% in October next. I believe we should challenge this margin? Also we should, at a minimum, look for redress of this loan to be reconciled back to June 2013 when we came off the 4 year fixed rate, as this loan was subject to the famous Section 3.2 reference to returning to Tracker from a fixed rate? Keeping in mind AIB placed this on 4.4% variable at this stage, no matter what Tracker margin they are claiming as applying to this loan in June 2013 it is cheaper than the variable offering.
Appreciate you reading this, just looking for thoughts?
Like most our situation is slightly unique I believe. We have already been written to and received compensation from AIB for redress for the tracker issue relating to our mortgage account. However the complexity arises from the fact that our mortgage account was split over 2 separate accounts just prior to drawdown in September 2008. Originally when applying, and the loan was being underwritten (I plan to request the underwiting docs and original loan application docs from AIB), we were intending to place the whole loan on tracker from the very start. Cast your minds back to September 2008 when there was a lot of volatility with interest rates where there had been a period of increasing rates. With this in mind plus childcare becoming an issue I spoke with my liason person in AIB for the loan who suggested a workaround would be to split the account between 50% Tracker and 50% 3 year fixed, the fixed rate being 5.2% compared with the Tracker rate of 5.75% (4.25% ECB + 1.5%) margin.
I agreed to go with this and have the original loan offers, both with the famous section 3.2 reference including the option to return to Tracker after a period of fixing.
Almost immediately into the loans, Oct/Nov 2008, ECB rates begin to plummet. From my recollection, and backed up by statements I received from AIB covering this period, I contacted AIB to see what options we had with the 3 year fixed loan as it was obvious Rates were only heading one direction and this would prove expensive if left at 5.2%. They gave us the option to break from the initial 3 year fixed loan without a breakage fee within a month of the original loan drawdown, offering the option to go onto a variable rate. An option to move to a Tracker was not forthcoming, keep in mind this coincided with the ending of the Tracker offering from AIB in Oct 2008. However as this proved a far cheaper option we accepted this at the time. I have requested an exact date and any documentation showing the status of this loan changing from AIB just this morning as I believe this to be key. At the time I was surprised AIB allowed us to seamlessly transfer to a variable rate like this with no breakage fee. The other Tracker loan was still in its original status at this point.
Fast forward 8 months to June 2009, with a second childcare cost to cover imminently and with a seemingly competitive offering of 4 year fixed at 3.57%, we decided to fix both loans thus moving from Tracker to Fixed for one loan and Variable to Fixed on the other loan. We wanted certainty at this point and didn’t realise the consequences to come down the track. There was no indication that an eventual return to Tracker would still not be possible, as per T & C's on both loans, at the end of this 4 year fixed period for either loan in the documentation we have marking this new 4 year fixed term.
At the end of the fixed term in June 2013 AIB wrote to us offering the standard range of variable and fixed options on both loans, the default variable being at 4.4%. No mention of options of returning to Tracker, which I now believe on both loans we were entitled to. This is even more relevant as at this point my wife was unemployed and we were on the vista of arrears which commenced in Aug 2013.
Fast forward to Oct 2014, after 14 months of battling AIB over how to handle our arrears issue we negotiated, via IMHO, a 3 year lower interest rate (2.5%) fixed schedule to expire October 2017.
In the interim in August 2016 AIB wrote to us regarding redress on the loan which had commenced life as a Tracker in 2008. They have subsequently offered us redress and compensation on this loan back to the original fixed date in June 2009, the compensation element I plan to appeal on the basis of our arrears issues with them, and unsecured lenders on their advice, and our current tattered ICB rating. This loan is now back on the rate of ECB + 1.5% margin, where it commenced.
However what I am now most interested in is the status of other loan which remains on the 3 year 2.5% re-schedule until October 2017. This loan, which started off life briefly as a 3 year fixed, quickly flipped to variable at no breakage within 1-2 months of drawdown, and subsequently re-fixed for 4 years some 9 months later. Worse case scenario I imagine they will offer us a return to Tracker, probably at a margin of 3.67% in October next. I believe we should challenge this margin? Also we should, at a minimum, look for redress of this loan to be reconciled back to June 2013 when we came off the 4 year fixed rate, as this loan was subject to the famous Section 3.2 reference to returning to Tracker from a fixed rate? Keeping in mind AIB placed this on 4.4% variable at this stage, no matter what Tracker margin they are claiming as applying to this loan in June 2013 it is cheaper than the variable offering.
Appreciate you reading this, just looking for thoughts?
