One of the last questions asked at the hearing last night was how the Oireachtas could move things forward for the customers at the moment. I came away feeling that they are very open to suggestions and comment from the public on this. If you think you have a solution or a suggestion that is worth considering you can get in touch with them by emailing
fincom@oireachtas.ie
The way I see it there are two ways in which you can get a bank to act:
1. Inflict financial damage
2. Inflict reputational damage
1. Financial Damage - Some suggestions
- Limit a bank's fine to €X (million) if they resolve their customers' issues before December 2017 (this was the original deadline set by the Central Bank). Thereafter apply the late payments interest rate on the fine and/or a rising scale of penalties for every day/week/month that the bank doesn't resolve the issue.
- Require the banks to meet the costs of a number of test appeals to the High Court.
- Set up a completely independent arbitration panel to sit over the entire process for appeals, funded by the banks.
2. Reputational Damage - Some suggestions
- Invite affected customers of the banks to make statements on the record to the Finance Committee, along with selected members of the press.
- Require the CEO's and boards of the banks to sit before these hearings to witness what their banks have done in person.
- Have an online register of the banks, the number of customers they 'mischarged', and personal testimony from customers (anonymous and personal info redacted if appropriate).
- Require the minutes of board meetings and mortgage lending meetings in the banks, particularly during periods 2007-2010 be made public.
The fly in the ointment is the reluctance of the Central Bank to make the scope and guidelines for the tracker mortgage investigation public and to set a deadline for completion.
It's astounding that only the banks, their auditors, and the Central Bank is privy to the information. Especially considering thousands of us who are having our mortgages investigated have no idea how this is being carried out. Nobody else has access to this information, why the closed shop? It has been suggested that maybe the Central Bank can't make comment because they haven't completed their investigations yet. That's no reason to stop them from making the scope available to the public.
At some point in November/December 2016 the Central Bank decided to move the goalposts from completion by December 2017, to all affected customers being contacted by the middle of 2017, with compensation/redress etc following on from there. That is a big difference in position and nobody has explained why.
The Governor of the Central Bank is not due before the Finance Committee again until April, I think it's 21st of April. That's 2 months away from now. I can't see the Central Bank changing their tune between now and then. The best way to get things moving is pester/people power. Email the committee (address above), contact your local TD/Senator, tell your story, ask questions, write to your bank, don't give up. The more of us that do this, the more the issue will be acted upon.