It's still possible to get a tracker mortgage

quietsailor

No, this isn't a joke,
No, I'm not a troll,
No, this isn't some con-job.

I came across this thread on the main page of boards and clicked onto it out of interest and in post #10, that poster explained how the bank has to keep a rate for you from the start to the end of your fixed term and if you took out your mortgage/fixed it back when trackers were available it might be available to you now.

Honestly though there is no point in asking me, go over to this thread and ask ...

Also someone on that thread - Zulu - got a tracker

killers1

quietsailor wrote: »

No, this isn't a joke,
No, I'm not a troll,
No, this isn't some con-job.

I came across this thread on the main page of boards and clicked onto it out of interest and in post #10, that poster explained how the bank has to keep a rate for you from the start to the end of your fixed term and if you took out your mortgage/fixed it back when trackers were available it might be available to you now.

Honestly though there is no point in asking me, go over to this thread and ask ...

Also someone on that thread - Zulu - got a tracker

You may revert to a tracker on an existing fixed rate mortgage on expiry of the fixed period if the terms and conditions state you are entitled to a tracker. If you are talking about a new mortgage no chance I'm afraid..

quietsailor

No, this isn't a joke,
No, I'm not a troll,
No, this isn't some con-job.

I came across this thread on the main page of boards and clicked onto it out of interest and in post #10, that poster explained how the bank has to keep an original base rate for you from before the start of your fixed mortgage to the end of your fixed term and if you had a tracker before you fixed it might be available to you now.

Honestly though there is no point in asking me, go over to this thread and ask seamus

Here's Post#10 from that thread

"All is not lost, you did hold onto all of your documentation right?

There's usually an underlying base rate which is frozen when you go onto a fixed rate. When the fixed term ends, the bank give you an option on what to do, and this base rate must be offered to you as an option.

If you started your fixed term in 2007, then it's likely that your bank were still offering tracker rates, and your original tracker rate is still your base rate.

My two-year fixed term ended in January 2010 and my lender offered me my base tracker at that stage, despite having removed trackers more than a year beforehand.

If I was to move onto a fix rate now, more than likely I would be required to move my base rate to a variable at the same time, but since you fixed in 2007 OP, your base rate may still be the tracker rate. It should all be in the fine print. "

quietsailor

sorry for the double thread folks, killers1 was in too quick with a reply while I was editing the thread to make it read better. The other thread has more detail.

killers1

quietsailor wrote: »

sorry for the double thread folks, killers1 was in too quick with a reply while I was editing the thread to make it read better. The other thread has more detail.

Sorry!!

The_Conductor

No probs folks- the two threads are now merged.

Kind regards,

Shane

anglican

I don't know what a tracker mortgage is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l74083zafAM

quietsailor

Sorry to drag this up again but the debate over tracker mortgages has been in the news again, Irish Examiner 26th Nov 2012

for the TL;DRers if you had a tracker mortgage, went to variable it's your legal entitlement to go back on the tracker mortgage if you wish.

Banks cannot auto-matically deny customers the right to return to a tracker rate mortgage if they switch temporarily to a fixed rate, the financial services ombudsman has confirmed.


Bill Prasifka said of 500 complaints to his office relating to mortgages in the latter half of last year, 100 were linked to tracker mortgages. Mr Prasifka said there were cases where the mortgage contract clearly showed that customers could return to the tracker rate even if they switched temporarily to a fixed-rate.

"The only thing that has changed is that they are on a fixed rate for a short period of time. In all other regards, their original mortgage holds. That’s a very clear case that someone is always entitled to a tracker," Mr Prasifka said.

Some of the complaints on tracker mortgages came to the ombudsman via clients of Padraic Kissane, a Dublin-based financial services adviser. Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Kissane said he had challenged Ulster Bank on behalf of a client he believed was entitled to return to a tracker rate. He then came across similar cases involving other clients. Mr Kissane said they went through the ombudsman for seven cases and were successful.

"Based on the ombudsman’s decision, they had to get a refund of all overpaid capital interest because the two rates would have been different," Mr Kissane said. He said Ulster Bank "were fined, into the bargain".

The ombudsman’s ruling centred on the wording of the original tracker rate mortgage contract, Mr Kissane said, which stated the tracker rate would be the rate "for the lifetime of the mortgage".

"That was the key phrase that I decided to focus in on. It didn’t state in that letter of offer that if you took a period of fixed rate during the life of that mortgage that you weren’t going to revert back to the tracker rate, it wasn’t clearly laid out."

Mr Kissane said he then ran an ad campaign and had been "inundated with phone calls".

"I’ve spoken directly to approximately 45-50 people, I’ve had calls from every financial institution, bar one which is Bank of Scotland Ireland," he said.

Mr Prasifka said it behoved banks to "spell out in plain English" the implications for customers in the agreements they signed up to. "Where it’s not spelt out clearly for the benefit of customers, we have been upholding the complaints and then putting people back on their trackers," he said.

Mr Prasifka has been in contact with the regulatory authorities about the tracker mortgage issue.



This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, November 26, 2012