Ulster Ulster - impacted but switched to another lender - tracker refused as Buy to Let

john2017

Registered User
Messages
4
Creating a separate thread as a case study - Brendan

@Pat123 @notabene I have pretty much the exact same story to tell. Tracker with UB from 2004-2006, moved to FR, back to SVR in 2009 and moved to BOI for better rate. I received my letter from Ulster bank before Christmas covering the overpaid interest before i moved (about 3 months) and money to cover a financial advisor. I have sent in my letter asking for the appeals form and on receiving that I will be doing exactly what Pat123 stated.

1. Fill out the Appeals form
1a. Enclose all the BOI statements,
2b. Write a covering letter
3b. Send it all to UB requesting them to compensate me for the period 2009-2017 and put me back on a Tracker at the original margin (+1 ECB)

2. Write a letter of complaint to the Central Bank also, and include all the same documentation

Thanks for this thread(and Brendan), when I received the letter from UB I was not sure of the next steps so this thread has really helped me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi, quick summary of my story. UB mortgage on tracker in 2004 on PPR, moved to Fixed in 2006 for three years, came off in 2009 to high SVR and moved mortgage to BOI. Moved to new house in 2015 but kept original property as Buy to Let. Been through the redress process with UB and told i was eligible to reapply for tracker with UB. Applied and has been emailed last week indicating that "underwriting had approved my application and that the tracker team would send out offer". Then got a phone call yesterday from UB saying because the property was a Buy to Let now they were refusing to reinstate the tracker mortgage. Still waiting for their letter but this seems completely wrong as when this error occurred it was my PPR. Will be appealing this to the independent board.
Has anyone else had their tracker refused after being deemed eligible in redress process, approved with underwriting but then to be told the tracker was refused because the property was now buy to let?
 
Hi John

I did not see this at the time.

What is the rationale for refusing you redress as it's a buy to let?

As this thread shows, I don't think that Ulster Bank can take you off your tracker for letting a property.
Anyone lost their tracker or paid a higher rate because they rented out their home?

Even if you lose that argument...

You could argue, that you would not have traded up if you knew that you would lose your tracker.

Or that you would have moved the tracker to your new property as you were allowed to do by Ulster Bank.

Brendan
 
Last edited:
Hi Brendan - I agree with you.

However, Ulster Bank will claim that there is a clause in their Letter of Offer that they must give their consent if there is to be any letting. (Might also exclude Rent-a-Room on same logic)

Mind you the same clause appears on Buy to Let Letter of Offer as well.

In legal terms it is potentially an unfair term in contract and secondly why would permission be with held.

Bank of Ireland and AIB have no problem with retention of Tracker in changing from PPR to BTL so Ulster are out of step.
 
To provide an update here on progress

I was waiting till there was an outcome before I updated the thread however its been such a long delay maybe best to provide update now. My last update was last September when UB informed me that I was eligible for getting my tracker back however then after confirming they were sending loan offer pulled back saying it was a BTL and that this made me ineligible per their rules. This was extremely frustrating so I appealed to the independent board

Oct 18: The appeals board asked UB to pay me the compensation owed from July 2009 to 2015 when the house became a BTL. They said they would deal with the tracker after this compensation was paid.

Dec 18: UB did pay the compensation after a long period of a wait. This was to cover overpay of insurance from 2009 to 2015.

March 19: Appeal board instructed UB to explain why they did not reinstate our tracker and pay compensation from 2015 up to present.

May 18: UB replied (again many weeks later) to the appeals board that we were not eligible due to the fact the house became a BTL

June: 19: The board have subsequently informed UB that they do not agree with UB and there was nothing in the original mortgage contracted that indicated the tracker would be surrendered in the case the property moved to BTL and that the tracker mortgage should be reinstated immediately and compensation paid.

I am still waiting to hear back from the board as to the response from UB. I'm hopeful the mortgage will be reinstated.

All in all this has been over 3 years since I first contacted UB in relation to this. The whole process has been extremely time consuming and frustrating.

I'll let you know how it goes when I hear back from the appeals board.
 
Final post on this

March 2020 : tracker mortgage reinstated, full compensation paid.

The independent board have been fantastic through all of this as UB pushed back or offered the least possible on each round of this. I would recommend anyone in same situation to be persistent, use the independent board and stay with it. Its been nearly 4 years of a process for us but worth it.
 
Hi John

That is great.

Thanks for the update.

And it's good to hear that the Appeals Panel in Ulster Bank is working well.

Brendan
 
Back
Top