Time running out for those with Danske home loans to complain to Ombudsman or Court..

F

Fin Crusader

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Note: Three successful complaints to the Ombudsman on this issue have been summarised in this thread:

Successful case - NIB investment property on home loan rate ( 1 2) - Brendan

I thought this would be a good place to inform people that Danske Bank have been OVERCHARGING all customers who took out a VARIABLE RATE HOME LOANS before February 2009.

In February 2009 the bank wrote out to their customers and informed them that they where changing the name of their respective mortgages from variable rate home loan to a new name, the variable rate investment loan. They said that they where simply renaming the loans to reflect the type of mortgage product held with them. They said " There are no other changes to your account. " They lied.

However the bank neglected to tell their customers that subsequent drops in interest rates by the ECB and their corresponding drops by the Danish National Bank were not passed on to these newly renamed investment mortgage products, but we're passed on to customers who had a standards variable rate mortgage on their principal private residence only.

However, when examining the loan agreements with Danske Bank I found that the original loan agreement stated that my mortgage was to be applied at the variable rate home loan and not some newly created variable investment rate mortgage. I also found that on my fixed rate home loans with Danske bank, that the loan agreement stated that these mortgages would revert to the prevailing VARIABLE RATE HOME LOAN, and not some invented investment rate that the bank picked out of the ether in February 2009.

A number of consumers with Danske Bank mortgages complained to the financial services ombudsman about this matter. The Financial Services Ombudsman found in the consumers favour and order Danske bank to refund the monies overcharged.

In November 2011 Danske bank drew a line in the sand and upped certain loans between .2% and .9% so that both variable rate home loan and variable rate investment mortgage were once again the one same rate. This is the very reason why Robert and Donna Millar complained to the Financial Services Ombudman in the first instance as Danske bank raised their mortgage rates by .9% arbitrarily.

The overcharging amount per 100,000 euro of mortgage works out at 750 per year. The overcharging occurred for exactly 2 years. So, for example if you had a mortgage of 300,000 euro you would be entitled to a refund of 4500 euro.

I have estimated that Danske bank have approximately 5,500 customers with original variable rate home loan mortgages. The overcharging occurred in February 2009, so under the statute of limitations you have till February 2015 (6 years) to bring a case for BREACH OF CONTRACT to either the financial ombudsman or to start legal proceeding through the court system. EXAMINE YOUR MORTGAGE AGREEMENTS NOW.

GOOD HUNTING,

FINCRUSADER
 
This issue has been discussed at length elsewhere on askaboutmoney and some have taken successful complaints to the Ombudsman.
 
I have this product. I had previously heard about this issue on AAM but did not do anything about it yet. Where should I write to first ? Should I start with pepper now that danske are gone or go straight to the ombudsman ? Will a short letter along the lines of I think I may have been overcharged suffice ?
 
Danske Bank Overcharging

To Laois 1 you have three options

Firstly, you must exhaust Danske Banks complaint procedure before your complaint will be accepted by Financial Services Ombudsman, so you must send your complaint to Danske Bank immediately as the clock is ticking.

Secondly, you can file a grounding Affadavit in the central office in the Four Courts, ( instructions on how to file your own Affadavit can be found online )

Thirdly, you can get a solicitor to complete your Affadavit ( for a fee ) and if you wish to represent you in court ( again for a fee ) In your Affadavit you will be claiming for breach of contract.

To Brendan Burgess, I am aware of your previous threads in relation to this matter, however I was highlighting the fact that people in this position have only till February 2015 to complain to the F.S.O. or start court proceedings.
 
Fin Crusader said:
To Brendan Burgess, I am aware of your previous threads in relation to this matter, however I was highlighting the fact that people in this position have only till February 2015 to complain to the F.S.O. or start court proceedings.
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I see.

I have edited the title of your thread to make this clear.

Brendan
 
Brendan, I was wondering would Danske Banks risk assessors settle with each complainant before a plenary hearing, the reason being the cost factor ( ie cost awarded against the loser in court cases) but also the fact that a High Court Judge could mandate the bank to pay back every customer affected and not just the ones taking legal action. I have conservatively guestimated that Danske Bank have at least 5500 buy to let mortgages on their books that the variable home loan rate applies. if the average overcharging amount is 4000 euro, Danske bank could be liable to pay out 22 million euro. Any views on the matter? I believe there has been no High Court case heard in this regard.
 
Hi Fin

Everyone would have to start a separate High Court case by February, so it's not practical.

Unfortunately, such group cases are not easy under Irish law.
 
Brendan, a High Court judge can mandate any bank to unilaterally compensate all customers in relation to overcharging if he believes this overcharging was systemic and not an individual error
 
The high court ruled on this very matter in relation to overcharging at National Irish Bank in the 1990's
 
Brendan, I believe one of such cases is Bank of Ireland v Carmel Foley, Director of consumer affairs in 2003. The high court imposed an order directing BOI to refund all customers affected. This totalled 1.8 million in fees to credit card customers which related to fees that included monthly subscription transaction charges as well as late payment charges and over limit fees. BOI complied fully with order in 2004
 
Fin Crusader said:
I believe one of such cases is Bank of Ireland v Carmel Foley, Director of consumer affairs in 2003. The high court imposed an order directing BOI to refund all customers affected. This totalled 1.8 million in fees to credit card customers which related to fees that included monthly subscription transaction charges as well as late payment charges and over limit fees. BOI complied fully with order in 2004
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It is possible that the Director of Consumer Affairs took such action against BoI and got such an order.

The Central Bank could direct Danske accordingly.
The Ombudsman could direct Danske accordingly.

But an individual can only take a claim on their own case and the judge cannot direct the bank to compensate everyone else affected.
 
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