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carolspinney
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[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Coments please.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Sunday Independent 19 Nov 06[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Ulster Bank took €3,000 from customer account[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]DANIEL McCONNELL [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]ULSTER Bank could be facing an investigation by the Financial Regulator over how it closed down thousands of customers' accounts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Two weeks after we reported that Ireland's third-largest bank has told almost 4,000 customers it no longer wanted them as customers, new documentation seen by the Sunday Independent reveals that the bank removed a customer's overdraft without warning, closed his accounts without informing him, and removed almost €3,000 from his account which has yet to be refunded. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]In one case which has come to the attention of the Sunday Independent, Ulster Bank removed the customer's overdraft of €8,000 without notice following a review of his accounts in July 2005, despite him being in a healthy financial state. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]The customer and his partner also had a loan with the bank but the payments were up to date, and they also had their mortgage with the bank. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]In protest, the customer stopped paying his loan repayments and as a result has seen his accounts closed, but only learned about it when his mother tried to put money into the account. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Speaking to the Sunday Independent about the cancellation of the overdraft, the customer said: "This I thought bizarre considering my income (€2,000 per week net), and I took the view that Ulster Bank were engineering a dominant position in order to charge further interest (surcharges). [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"We had been with the bank for a long time, but all this started to happen when the company became a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"I dug my heels in with them as I have been a customer for over 12 years and previously held a company account which frequently ran credit balances up to €40,000 in a zero-interest current account. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"This original loan and overdraft originated from a period of illness and downturn in the IT sector which collectively made a serious dent in earnings," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]In a letter to the customer sent by the bank earlier this week, Ulster Bank admitted to "several breakdowns in customer service". The bank also admitted to a breach of the data protection act when the customer's mother tried unsuccessfully to lodge money into his account and was told that the account had been closed. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]The letter went on to say that as a result "of a change in our systems, we can no longer offer an active account alongside accounts that are with our recoveries section". [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]The bank also acknowledged that it took over six months for the bank to alter the customer's change of address despite many attempts by him to inform them. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Although the bank offered the customer €1,000 in compensation for his hurt and distress, it has emerged that - since the customer's account was closed - over €2,800 was removed by the bank. It was due to be sent out by draft to the customer, who had banked at the O'Connell Street branch in Dublin but as yet nothing has been received. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Reacting to the case, Ulster Bank said: "We regularly update our policies about how we manage our accounts. The changes in our systems are there to protect the bank as well as the customer. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"We would like to assure customers that this case is very much the exception and not the rule and we intend getting to the bottom of this as soon as possible." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Despite the efforts of the bank to resolve the issue, it appears that its new aggressive management policies has attracted the attention of the financial regulator who is likely to examine the situation. [/FONT]
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1727325&issue_id=14910
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Sunday Independent 19 Nov 06[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Ulster Bank took €3,000 from customer account[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]DANIEL McCONNELL [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]ULSTER Bank could be facing an investigation by the Financial Regulator over how it closed down thousands of customers' accounts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Two weeks after we reported that Ireland's third-largest bank has told almost 4,000 customers it no longer wanted them as customers, new documentation seen by the Sunday Independent reveals that the bank removed a customer's overdraft without warning, closed his accounts without informing him, and removed almost €3,000 from his account which has yet to be refunded. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]In one case which has come to the attention of the Sunday Independent, Ulster Bank removed the customer's overdraft of €8,000 without notice following a review of his accounts in July 2005, despite him being in a healthy financial state. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]The customer and his partner also had a loan with the bank but the payments were up to date, and they also had their mortgage with the bank. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]In protest, the customer stopped paying his loan repayments and as a result has seen his accounts closed, but only learned about it when his mother tried to put money into the account. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Speaking to the Sunday Independent about the cancellation of the overdraft, the customer said: "This I thought bizarre considering my income (€2,000 per week net), and I took the view that Ulster Bank were engineering a dominant position in order to charge further interest (surcharges). [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"We had been with the bank for a long time, but all this started to happen when the company became a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"I dug my heels in with them as I have been a customer for over 12 years and previously held a company account which frequently ran credit balances up to €40,000 in a zero-interest current account. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"This original loan and overdraft originated from a period of illness and downturn in the IT sector which collectively made a serious dent in earnings," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]In a letter to the customer sent by the bank earlier this week, Ulster Bank admitted to "several breakdowns in customer service". The bank also admitted to a breach of the data protection act when the customer's mother tried unsuccessfully to lodge money into his account and was told that the account had been closed. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]The letter went on to say that as a result "of a change in our systems, we can no longer offer an active account alongside accounts that are with our recoveries section". [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]The bank also acknowledged that it took over six months for the bank to alter the customer's change of address despite many attempts by him to inform them. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Although the bank offered the customer €1,000 in compensation for his hurt and distress, it has emerged that - since the customer's account was closed - over €2,800 was removed by the bank. It was due to be sent out by draft to the customer, who had banked at the O'Connell Street branch in Dublin but as yet nothing has been received. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Reacting to the case, Ulster Bank said: "We regularly update our policies about how we manage our accounts. The changes in our systems are there to protect the bank as well as the customer. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]"We would like to assure customers that this case is very much the exception and not the rule and we intend getting to the bottom of this as soon as possible." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Despite the efforts of the bank to resolve the issue, it appears that its new aggressive management policies has attracted the attention of the financial regulator who is likely to examine the situation. [/FONT]
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1727325&issue_id=14910
