Ulster Bank to sell 900 home loans which are in litigation

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Moved from the thread on how RTE is reporting the issue, so we can discuss the substance of the topic - Brendan

95% of these borrowers are in arrears over 2 years.
All of them, I think , are in the courts process.
Ulster Bank has classified them as non-engaging.

I have been down in the courts and I have seen hundreds of people who are not engaging.
I have seen some others claiming "I am engaging judge, but they won't engage with me." A smart Registrar will ask them if they are paying anything. And of course, they are not.



Brendan
 
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I got this statement from Ulster Bank

An Ulster Bank spokesperson said:

“Ulster Bank has confirmed a significant impaired loan portfolio sale enabling the bank to strengthen its balance sheet for the benefit of its customers and much needed competition in the banking market. The loans involved do not belong to typical customers, they are all in Ulster Bank’s problem debt management unit and in arrears or under specialist management for a significant period of time.”


Background points:

  • The face value of the loans is c €2.5bn
  • Split 86% RI (€2.1bn), 14% NI €350m/ £269m)
  • 65% are business loans, 23% are BTL and 12% are PDH
  • 100% of the PDH are in legal/ litigation
  • Just over 900 individual PDHs (just 0.5% of our RI mortgage book)
  • All of the existing rights of the borrowers transfer with the loans.
 
Hi All, I'm absolutely sick to my stomach and unable to sleep since I heard this news. I'm in the MARP process with Ulster Bank and have never once missed a payment in the entire course of my mortgage. However, when I started to get into financial difficulty in 2009 I went to see the Bank Manager in First Active branch (my mortgage was with First Active who were taken over by UB) to tell him I was struggling and could we work out a deal, which we did. An agreement was put in place to pay a reduced monthly payment. That was revised a year ago and a higher payment and agreement for 5 years was put in place so there are 4 years left on that deal. We are in a much better financial situation than we were and are working our way up to paying the mortgage in full. The current deal is that we pay 540 euro a month until April 2020. The normal repayments are 1350 euro. The mortgage is 230,000 and worth about 160,000 now. As I mentioned, I have never missed a month in paying them and always kept in communication with them from the very start of this mess.

What I am confused about is this - some news reports say that this will mainly affect mortgage holders on the brink of repossession and who haven't been paying. Then other reports say all accounts in arrears? Should I call Ulster Bank on Monday and try to get clarification on where I now stand? If this vulture gets their hands on my mortgage, will they do what they can to repossess or will they work with us? I have always paid and always engaged with them. In fact, I have always found them very easy to deal with.
 
All of the 900 cases are currently before the courts.

None of them is in an arrangement.

As you are in an arrangement, your mortgage is not being sold.

But you can call them on Monday to confirm this.

Brendan
 
I'll call Ulster Bank tomorrow. I just read an article today in The Journal, I can't post the link because of forum regulations here so I've cut and paste the section which I find confusing.

"In his briefing with Ulster Bank, Doherty told the bank it was contributing to the ongoing housing crisis. He said homeowners who lose their homes will end up living in emergency accommodation like hotel rooms, or be handed a sleeping bag.

In their statement, Ulster Bank said that 100% of the family home loans “are in litigation and these customers are non-engaged customers”.

However, it stated that not all customers involved in the sale are in arrears.

Those included are only a very small portion of customers in arrears.
If customers would like to speak to someone about this, they can call the arrears support unit on Freephone 1800 435 763 or 01 709 2118 and we can help them to either engage and/or to clarify their situation."

On Pierce Doherty's Twitter page on May 25th - "Ulster Banks claims that there is no engagement from 900 home loans that is to be sold is not true. A large number still paying something."

Contradiction: So on one hand Ulster Bank are saying that 100% of the family homes are in litigation and non-engaged and yet after his call to Ulster Bank, Doherty states this is not true and a large number are still paying something - I'm included in that aspect.

I will be calling Ulster Bank on Monday but in the meantime, if anyone has any information, advice or any other light to shed here regarding this confusion, I would appreciate it very much.
 
I attended the Ulster Bank briefing and my notes are consistent with every report, other than the Journal's.

Those whose mortgages are being sold are not engaging. They are all in litigation , most are at their second court appearance.

There are some borrowers who are paying something but who are not engaging. All banks have a few of these borrowers who pay something but don't engage. The lenders are not in a position to restructure those mortgages as they have no information on the borrowers.


mr&mrssmith said:
That was revised a year ago and a higher payment and agreement for 5 years was put in place so there are 4 years left on that deal. We are in a much better financial situation than we were and are working our way up to paying the mortgage in full. The current deal is that we pay 540 euro a month until April 2020.
Click to expand...

I would be absolutely astonished if your mortgage were being sold. But do call them tomorrow and report back to us.

Brendan
 
Hi I apologise for the delay in reporting back but I only managed to get to speak with someone today. I called Ulster Bank and was put through to a specialist department dealing with this issue of the sale to vulture funds and the customer service chap I spoke to confirmed that my mortgage is not included in that deal. I will finally sleep tonight. Thanks a million for your help and input!
 
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