Bank of Ireland increase differential on tracker rates

Bank of Ireland increase differential on tracker rates

10:32 AM, 28th February 2013, About 12 years ago 1862

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The story of the Bank of Ireland decision to increase to the differential (interest rate margin) on  tracker mortgages started on this forum when a professional landlord contacted Property118 within minutes of a letter from Bank of Ireland landing on his door mat. What ensued was outrage from landlords and affected residential mortgage borrowers. The story was quickly picked up by the National Media as it wasn’t just the 13,500 affected borrowers who were worried.

Will this set a precedent for other mortgage lenders to follow?

Property118 reacted by using funds donated to The GOOD Landlords Campaign to underwrite the cost of a barristers opinion on the legality of the Bank of Ireland’s actions. The remainder of this thread,one of the most read and most commented threads of all time on Property118, continues to tell the story as it unfolds.

If you want to skip the story and cut to the chase simply CLICK HERE

Of the 13,500 affected borrowers, 1,200 have had the decision reversed by Bank of Ireland. With additional support and pressure we believe all affected borrowers can and will see justice done.

___________________________________________

Lee, a professional Landlord asks, “help! I have just received a letter from the Bank of Ireland stating they want to increase the differential on my tracker rates.

I have 12 mortgages with the Bank of Ireland previously Bristol and West. I have been on a base rate tracker of 1.75% above base, but now Bank of Ireland are using some fine print claiming they have to recapitalise and saying the ‘new differential will be 4.49%.

How can I fight back?”

The original policy wording seems to be:

6 INTEREST

Charging interest at a tracker rate

(j) Unless we change the differential (if any) under condition 6 (n), we will not change the tracker rate unless the base rate changes.

(m) in condition 6 (n):
– a “positive differential” means a percentage which we add to the base rate to arrive at the tracker rate; and a “negative differential” means a percentage which we subtract from the base rate to arrive at the tracker rate.

(n) We may reduce a positive differential or increase a negative differential at our discretion by giving you not less than seven days written notice. This means that we can change the differential in a way that is favourable to you.

The above seems to indicate that they can reduce the rate in my favour, but not give them the right to increase it. Am I correct?


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Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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9:45 AM, 18th June 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Darrell G" at "18/06/2014 - 09:43":

Hi Darrell

The original fund was for Barristers opinion, a QC operates at a higher level. We obtained both for the West Brom case but only barristers opinion for the BoI case and then ran out of money. Nevertheless, a QC has been working speculatively on the case, he's just not documented his work yet.

Hope that helps.
.

M Jones

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12:59 PM, 25th June 2014, About 11 years ago

Still nothing from the FOS on this - I raised the issue with them in July 2013 - they formalised is in September 2013 and it has now taken them over 9 months. The case has still not been allocated to an adjudicator!
For what it is worth I have now raised this as a complaint.
Has anyone else received any info from FOS?

mrs sharp

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2:14 AM, 26th June 2014, About 11 years ago

yes DBWB, I have heard from FOS, telling me they still have not appointed an adjudicator, I first raised my complaint in April 2013 :(((

So now I am complaining to the "independent assessor" about the length of time it is taking FOS to deal with my complaint about BoI. Am I going around in circles here??? 😉

M Jones

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9:58 AM, 27th June 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Theresa McAllister" at "26/06/2014 - 02:14":

Reply to my complaint with FOS;
I am responding to your call to our offices yesterday where you expressed concerns that your complaint against Bank of Ireland had still not been allocated to an adjudicator.

We do appreciate that it is taking longer than you might have hoped for us to respond to your complaint, but it is very important that we consider everything thoroughly. Bank of Ireland has provided us with information regarding its decision and the reasons for it; we are currently reviewing this in detail.

Just to clarify - we deal with all cases individually but there are some overarching issues that we also have to consider before we can reach a decision on individual cases.

I do appreciate how frustrating it must be and how important your case is to you, but please be assured that we will contact you as soon as we are able to progress your case and will keep you updated in the meantime.

I have recorded your concerns as a formal complaint and I have enclosed the fact sheet about how we deal with complaints about our service.

I appreciate that this is not the response you were hoping for, but I hope this has helped to clarify the position.

Yours sincerely

For anyone else who has also dealt with the FOS on their WB case this will sound painfully familiar. I fear we will not get an ombudsman to rule on this - they have too much to loose!

Paul Brindley

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10:33 AM, 27th June 2014, About 11 years ago

I've not gone to war with them just yet. Watch what happens in coming months when I do!

Justin Selig - solicitor

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15:14 PM, 27th June 2014, About 11 years ago

LEGAL ACTION UPDATE:

Following on from our update a few weeks ago, we are waiting to hear back from the QC as to the cost of putting his opinion into writing. We already have a written opinion from his junior, and the QC gave us a verbal opinion over the phone, but in order to obtain litigation funding, we need him to confirm his advice in writing. Once we hear back, I will update the forum.

I expect that there will be a cost involved in doing this and then in order to get a firm offer of funding we are going to have to prepare a very detailed submission to the funders. We have estimated that this will take approximately 20-30 hours of work - which is not something we will do for free. Therefore, in order to get the ball rolling we do need people to start contributing. However - rather than incurring the cost of collecting the money and then having to return it (if we don't get enough people), we would like people to indicate whether or not they are prepared to proceed on this basis.

At this stage, we have receive 118 confirmed indications. Before it becomes worthwhile, we need to get to at least 250 - so if anyone who was thinking about joining hasn't come back to us, please will you let me know.

Thanks
Justin

Fed Up Landlord

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15:41 PM, 27th June 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Justin Selig" at "27/06/2014 - 15:14":

Justin - is this another cash call for those of us who have paid the £150 initial fee and £500 additional fee?

Baggers

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16:12 PM, 18th July 2014, About 11 years ago

It is 3 weeks now since anyone posted here, Justin agreed some time ago to post a weekly update and that has not happened. Is there a realistic chance of any action ever happening as a result of this forum, or should we just move on and get on with our lives?

Concerned about my BOI mortgage

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16:39 PM, 18th July 2014, About 11 years ago

Justin how many people have signed up to pay the £150? How many do you need to make it viable?

Justin Selig - solicitor

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16:45 PM, 18th July 2014, About 11 years ago

I would very much like to progress this, but we do need critical mass to move forward. Not much has changed since my last post. I have about 120 confirmed instructions, but I really need double that to make this a possibility.

I expect that a number of people (particularly residential borrowers) are waiting to see what the outcome of the FOS investigations are - as that is still ongoing.

If we had commitment from more people then we could start to move this forward again.

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