Bank of Ireland increase differential on tracker rates

haven't thought about it but my understanding is the small claims is primarily about recovering debts owed which would not be the case here.

If I can go back to some earlier postings - I have complained to FOS about misspelling of tracker mortgage not just about the T&C which the bank claims allows it to vary the differential - might be worth considering.

I have lodged another complaint about mis-selling investments which the adjudicator has upheld but the bank is disputing. I'll wait to see the outcome of that.

I am however getting the sense that the bank is disputing /fighting everything as a matter of principle and not looking at individual cases on their own merits which is what I believe it is required to do under various Codes/legislation etc & I suspect this might have some link back to conditions attached to EC State Aid approvals.

LEGAL ACTION UPDATE:

We are meeting with the insurers next Tuesday to discuss the required cover to enable us to start proceedings against the Bank of Ireland. The plan is to obtain both litigation funding and after the event insurance so the majority of costs are covered both in bringing the action and also to cover any adverse costs awarded against us if we lose.

There is by now a significant "pot" of money being the increased payments everyone has made from last May to date, which should be recoverable from BOI.

We will update the forum after the meeting.

In the meantime, in response to some earlier discussions about Small Claims Court, there is nothing to stop anyone bringing a claim against BOI in the small claims court. The advantage is that there is no costs consequence should you lose - the main requirement is that the amount in dispute needs to be less than £10,000. You could claim for repayment of the increased payments you have made over the past year, provided that they are less than £10,000. However, if lots of people bring Small Claims of a similar nature, then the court may consolidate the claims together and they will no longer be classified as a Small Claims, and there would be costs consequences.

Reply to the comment left by "Justin Selig" at "16/05/2014 - 16:11":

Hi Justin

This sounds very promising 🙂

Good luck with your meeting and I look forward to your update.

There are now in the region of 1,000 people who an expressed an interest in the BoI legal action.

Once we have some news to share I will be delighted to communicate it to all of those people.
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I am wondering if there are any timing implications here with those people that have made a formal complaint through the FOS and the proposed BOI legal action. Would it be better to await the outcome of any FOS investigations and decisions before an individual joins the legal action group? Would it be better to wait until the FOS outcomes before initiating the legal action?

LEGAL ACTION UPDATE:

We met litigation funders earlier this week to discuss the possibility of funding a claim against BOI. The brief to the funders was that we would like them to fund the costs of bringing the claim and also cover any adverse costs should our claim not be successful.

When we started looking into the BOI claim over a year ago, this was not an option as litigation funding only works where there is a potential pot of money to pay the funder where the claim is successful.

Now that a year has passed, there is a potential pot of money as all affected borrowers have been paying increased payments to BOI as a result of the increase in interest rates charged.

Our claim against BOI would be for a refund of those increased payments and a requirement that they revert to charging the correct interest rate as set out in the original mortgage offers.

We are pleased to report that we received an indication from the funder that they would be able to support such a claim provided we obtained enough claimants. One condition would be that any money recovered from BOI as a result of the excess payments made could be used to pay the funders in the event of a successful claim. The borrowers would still benefit as the interest rate would revert to the original rates.

We will shortly post further details on this forum as to what you need to do next, but we need an indication from people as to whether or not they would be interested in joining such an action. We will require a small admin fee of £150+VAT per mortgage to cover our initial costs and we will be writing again to explain how this can be paid.

If you are interested in pursuing such a claim against BOI, on the basis that it would only cost you £150+VAT per mortgage plus agreeing to apply any of your extra payments to BOI which we have recovered to paying the funders, please would you email me at boi@lawdepartment.co.uk.

Reply to the comment left by "Justin Selig" at "23/05/2014 - 17:08":

That's very exciting news Justin, well done.

I will copy and paste your message into an email and send it to everybody who completed the "Expression of Interest Form", there are over 1,000.

What is the minimum number you need to sign up?
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Hi Jusin,Might the West Brom Action members have more infomation about the latest proposed deal.At present many have paid £1234 (£240 to Law Dept,£1144 to Bar Services and refund of £150 from Law Dept) and if the action is won hope to get back all overpayments and £1000 of money paid. Will the latest proposition have our overpayments refunded,and a return of money already paid.less the £150 +vat ?

Reply to the comment left by "lucas lucendo" at "23/05/2014 - 19:32":

Hi Lucas

You appear to be mixing up the West Brom case and the BoI case.

This thread, and Justin's update, is purely in relation to the BoI case.
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Reply to the comment left by "lucas lucendo" at "23/05/2014 - 19:32":

Hi Lucas

You appear to be mixing up the West Brom case and the BoI case.

This thread, and Justin's update, is purely in relation to the BoI case.
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Reply to the comment left by "Justin Selig" at "23/05/2014 - 17:08":

Great news Justin !
We're definitely keen to pursue the claim against BoI and will forward the £150 per mortgage for our 2 affected mortgages as soon as you post details as to how this can be paid.