Ulster UB staff/ex staff

Hi all,
Also affected by this and wondering if any of you have gotten any further with things? We were on full tracker from 2006 and moved partially to the staff fixed rate in 2007 with some remaining on tracker. As rates fell we requested to move all back to the tracker rate but were told we couldn't (without a formal application being made if that impacts in any way).
We raised a complaint in 2017 but got nowhere really. Now this week we received a letter saying our mortgage sub account has come under the redress scheme. From the letter this appears to be the smaller part that was on tracker all along. We'll be arguing now that the full mortgage should have been on the tracker but has anyone been successful in getting them to do this?
Any advice welcome
Thanks
No further word from UB on this. We requested all info they had on us and got it last week. Sifted through it all over the weekend. There's no forms or info on switching to the staff rate, or on requesting to go back to the tracker.
Did anyone else sign when moving to the staff rate?
Going to get a letter drafted up this week to send back
 
Hi....so many similar cases! I’ve a case with ombudsman since August ‘18. Had to push hard for a final response letter. Remediated on smaller part of mortgage but not on staff portion (also advised re lifetime product yet this wasn’t the case back in c2006 when I moved to staff rate ....did not sign anything. Requested all docs from mortgages sept and only T&Cs are those of original tracker! Latest update I got this week from ombudsman was a ‘summary of complaint’ was being prepared and will be sent to provider (UB) and I would be notified when this would happen. I read an article somewhere that ombudsman were dealing with c3k+ cases. The more who raise this staff tracker issue the better!

If we knew back in c2009 what we know now as a result of the remediation programme we would have all requested to go back to tracker! It was and is a very grey area....general consensus back then was you weren’t allowed move back as fixed residual part of mortgage was not allowed back on tracker upon expiry (which is now found to be incorrect and remediated!)

Fingers crossed the right thing will be done and soon ....it’s gone on far too long with so much uncertainty for all involved
 
It is so encouraging folks to know we are not alone...I really feel very strongly about this issue. Apologies I hadn't been notified of the replied to my last message for some reason.
The only update I can add to this since my last message is...still no word from ub or ombudsman, however I have been in touch with Michael McGrath TD...was impressed by his response in the Indo article this week.... I got a response from him too saying he was meeting a group of staff from another bank also...I guess the more people who speak up from UB the more we will have to be listened to.
 
I have been in the same situation for over 12 months. Part Tracker moved to Staff Rate in 2008 but refused to go back to Tracker since 2009. Managed to get hold of terms and conditions of staff rate no mention of not being allowed to switch back. Advised by UB that my request to switch was granted as an "exception" as technically not in scope yet they refuse to this day to accept that I should have been able to return to a Tracker. Ombudsman only option now. Going straight to Investigation as don't see what Mediation will accomplish.
 
Thanks The Don
It is so frustrating isn't it!!
What frustrates me is that the goal posts continually move
I know there are staff who left who were given their tracker back
I also know of a case exact same as ours that their staff account sub account was forced back to tracker as part of TME even though they wanted the stability of the staff fixed 3%
I really hope we all get the outcome we deserve
 
Received our cheque for redress today. As expected they applied it to the smaller part of our mortgage and not the staff part. Was .25% overcharge over 10 years. Have requested the appeal pack.
We requested to move all our mortgage back to the tracker in 2009 but they refused. If we knew better at the time we would have argued further. But need to argue it now!
 
Sorry to hear that is all you have received redress on @barneyrubble terrible you had to wait so long just for that!
Same boat as most of us on here...my advice would be get your letter to ombudsman give them everything you have...I even went back to my old contracts that said I could have a preferential rate for as long as I was staff..I even quoted the oxford engliah dixtionary and the meaning of preferential!!! The more of us that do it I believe the stronger our case is...we all cant have misunderstood this!!!
 
Have requested the appeals pack. Would you go ombudsman route at the same time or wait until appeal finished?
Must dig out contract if I can and see if anything in it.
Got all paperwork they have on our mortgage and no paperwork at all from when we moved to the staff rate. Do any of you have anything official from changing over?
 
They will only allow the appeal to be done at sub account because they are saying that your staff portion is not impacted by TME ....imo you are wasting time going down that route of appeal. That was the advice I was given by an experienced Complaint handler member of staff...just go straight to FPSO now as you are challenging on the fact it's not a TME case...they only will accept appeals on cases that are in the TME net...it's ridiculous!
No is the answer on official paperwork on transferring to staff...not sure anyone has that! Their argument has been and still is that the tracker is no longer available now to roll off 3% and back to it...I don't see this as a strong enough argument tbh as back when the fixed rate that we came off in 2013 (when we had to challenge hard for our tracker and then they put us inn the incorrect margin anyway!) They gave us the product option sheets and tracker was not listed there as an option but yet because of our complaint they gace it back to us...I gave the FPSO that product sheet too!
Good luck with your letter, our FPSO complaint is in since last November and in December they asked us did we want to supply any further info as the Bank refused to engage. I firmly believe we have a strong case and won't give up easily
 
Hi just wondering has anyone heard anything from fspo office yet? Having not heard anything for 4 months after supplying significant additional information, I chased them this week to find out the contact there left at the end of 2018 and another contact has now assumed responsibility of our file. By means of an update they have advised that there is a letter being prepared which states progress on our case and will be issued in the coming weeks. If anyone hasn't heard back from them, I suggest you make contact to maintain progress.
If any one has had any success on the staff portion, please can you advise.
Many thanks
 
Hi @AlAndalus
Just wondering if you have any progress on your staff portion challenge?
It seems to have gone a bit quiet here
Many thanks

Hi guys
Just wondering if any UB staff/ex staff on here who should have moved/been allowed move back on to a tracker from the staff rate of 3%. Believe AIB moved all their staff back on to their tracker rate (from staff rate). When I rang the UB number they said they can't comment at this point but that I should hear from them over the coming months. Essentially were staff advised that they would not be allowed get their tracker back when they moved to the staff rate (not from my experience).
 
Hi JMex
No I followed up with them recently and got a response about three weeks ago to basically say no update. I see at today's Oireachtas committee they said that they have now identified all impacted customers. So I think on the basis that they haven't reverted to advise me that I'm in scope I'll drop them another line. Don't see how I can't fall in.
 
Hi JM, I had to contact UB again as still no formal confirmation received as to whether deemed impacted. They have advised that I will have an update in 5 days so I would presume that will confirm that I haven’t been deemed as in scope. Can I ask how did you go about the appeal with the FSPO? Thanks
 
So here's where I've ended up. Sent them a letter on Monday looking for an update given what was said by Ms Howard at last week's Oireachtas committee that they had identified all impacted accounts etc. So today I had a missed call with a voicemail from them. Rang back got talking to somebody else in the team. She said that it appears that I have't been impacted. I said fine, I disagree and will be going to the Ombudsman to challenge that decision. She said there is a team who I can complain to about that decision. I said no thanks, I've wasted enough time waiting on their decision I'll go straight to the Ombudsman. I asked her when I would be receiving their letter confirming their decision that I wasn't impacted. She said that they don't have such a letter to issue (and she had to check this out). So I told her that I wanted to lodge an official complaint about that, given that previous letters had indicated that I would hear one way or the other. Either way, especially as I had taken the trouble of writing to them, I would have expected their final decision to be communicated to me in writing and not over the phone which was prompted by me. Sounds like if I hadn't of written on Monday I may not have heard back from them.
So I'll wait to see will they now confirm this in writing and go to the Ombudsman with that letter and my view of the fact that I was impacted by this issue. I'll keep you posted.
 
Thanks for the update. I have a feeling that my response may be given by phone also as they took my number for the first time ever but I will push to get it in writing also as all the letters to date said that I would they would write out when there was an update.. I have a formal complaint lodged previously which is still opwn in relation to the delay in being updated as it is ridiculously slow...
 
My case has moved on a bit this week...got a letter from ombudsman to say they’ve wrote to UB and given them 20 working days to respond. They enclosed a 6 page copy of the letter they wrote to UB setting out facts of case and series of questions for them to answer and for them to provide T&Cs of staff mortgage. For ombudsman to take forward a case you need to have made a complaint to UB and received your ‘final response’ letter. The Oireachtas meeting has moved things on as UB confirmed at it they have identified all impacted cases so it now allows ombudsman to move cases forward.
Hope this helps some! Will
Keep you posted on outcome/progress :)
 
Great to some progress here folks!
@Wa1ting it will be very interesting to see what T&Cs they come back with!
I received another response from Michael McGrath last week saying it is clear from my message last week that what ub have advised the oireachtas committee that all cases have been identified now is not true.
Folks if anyone else feels up to it, I'd encourage you to contact Michael McGrath so he can see for himself that there is a substantial cohurt of us that feel we have been mistreated by saying we are not in scope. My case is with fspo now since October so hopefully hear something soon.
It's very hard to trust UB now as with regard to the compensation we received last July in relation to the sub accounts of ours rhat were deemed impacted...they followed up with a further cheque to us 2 weeks ago saying they had miscalculated the amount! It was only a difference of 600 euro but still!
I keep saying how can we all have thought the same thing that we were at least entitled honour trackers back after we were no longer staff!
 
This thing gets even more bizarre by the minute. Arrived home today to a letter from them following my call last week. The letter says that my complaint has now been passed to their Tracker Mortgage Complaints team for investigation. My complaint is to be raised with the examination review team. But the complaint I raised on my call with them last week was that they weren't going to formally advise me in writing that my account was not in scope/impacted (not around their decision that it wasn't in scope). I had intended to not waste any more time with them and just go straight to the ombudsman at this point. Again they mention that they cannot give any timelines, will give updates every 60 days etc. Will have to think about this before deciding next steps, feel like going straight to the Ombudsman at this point.
 
This thing gets even more bizarre by the minute. Arrived home today to a letter from them following my call last week. The letter says that my complaint has now been passed to their Tracker Mortgage Complaints team for investigation. My complaint is to be raised with the examination review team. But the complaint I raised on my call with them last week was that they weren't going to formally advise me in writing that my account was not in scope/impacted (not around their decision that it wasn't in scope). I had intended to not waste any more time with them and just go straight to the ombudsman at this point. Again they mention that they cannot give any timelines, will give updates every 60 days etc. Will have to think about this before deciding next steps, feel like going straight to the Ombudsman at this point.
I got the exact same letter today from
UB following my call last week where I also had asked for a response as to whether I have been deemed impacted in writing. How strange. Are we able to go straight to the Ombudsman without the formal response though? It seems like an effort to delay a formal response.
 
I got the exact same letter today from
UB following my call last week where I also had asked for a response as to whether I have been deemed impacted in writing. How strange. Are we able to go straight to the Ombudsman without the formal response though? It seems like an effort to delay a formal response.
You need to respond immediately requesting a full and final response within 30 days and giving your reasons why you’re not prepared to wait. In this case your reasons should be linked to the UB statement before the Finance Committee that all accounts were identified.
 
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