Tracker mortgage

paul larry

Here goes a question of the back of something I saw on the news this hour...
I bought my house in January 2007 on a 100% mortgage (I know....not my finest moment!!!!) through EBS. I don't recall them offering me a tracker mortgage. Should they have done, or was a tracker retained solely for those on a 92% loan?
Do I have any grounds for complaint, and if so, to whom?

Spocker

There was no obligation on EBS (or any mortgage provider) to offer any of their clients a tracker rate at that time, so you have no grounds for a complaint.

dozy doctor

Apologies for hijacking this thread....

We bought our home in February 2005 with PTSB through a broker on the East Coast.

We are on a variable rate but my wife went in an inquired about changing our mortgage from Variable to a Tracker,
and was told at the time by the broker that there was no difference in the mortgages and that we should just stay as we are...

Can we protest this and do you think that we have grounds for a complaint..
The Broker in question is no longer providing mortgages for PTSB

phormium

You can try but I doubt you have any case, do you have all of this in writing or can somehow prove the conversation too place?

The broker in 2005 did not have a crystal ball and could not have known how valuable a tracker would become, the rates may have been the same at the time so there would have been no obvious benefit to switching over but ultimately it was your decision.

brendan86

dozy doctor wrote: »

Apologies for hijacking this thread....

We bought our home in February 2005 with PTSB through a broker on the East Coast.

We are on a variable rate but my wife went in an inquired about changing our mortgage from Variable to a Tracker,
and was told at the time by the broker that there was no difference in the mortgages and that we should just stay as we are...

Can we protest this and do you think that we have grounds for a complaint..
The Broker in question is no longer providing mortgages for PTSB

No you can't, the whole thing about the tracker cases is that they we're on a tracker mortgage then fixed there mortgage for a certain length of time and when the fixed period was over the bank put them on varable rate when in fact they should have reverted back to there tracker (or at least been offered it)

If you never signed up to a tracker at any stage how can you expect to be put on one?

dozy doctor

phormium wrote: »

The broker in 2005 did not have a crystal ball and could not have known how valuable a tracker would become, the rates may have been the same at the time so there would have been no obvious benefit to switching over but ultimately it was your decision.

I went in to speak with them today and it turns out that the rates at the time were more favourable to have a variable as tracker rates were slightly more expensive then...

Gotta be worth the try, right...

phormium

I think you haven't a hope, you were never on a tracker so can't get back what you were never done out of unlike other tracker holders.

brendan86

dozy doctor wrote: »

I went in to speak with them today and it turns out that the rates at the time were more favourable to have a variable as tracker rates were slightly more expensive then...

Gotta be worth the try, right...

I'm in the exact same boat as you, although I had a tracker but switched my mortgage. Went to a broker for switchinh, broker advised me go variable as it was cheaper at time. I agreed, could have saved tens of thousands to this day had I not taken his advice but such is life.

I never had a tracker with my new mortgage company, how could one expect just because a tracker it so valuable now we should be entitled to it cause we took what turns out to be bad advice from a broker.

But it's a disgrace Irish mortgage companies are aloud to extortionate us with such high variable rate when the ECB is so low! They got there bailout, there now starting see profits again and still screw us.

rainbowtrout

dozy doctor wrote: »

I went in to speak with them today and it turns out that the rates at the time were more favourable to have a variable as tracker rates were slightly more expensive then...

Gotta be worth the try, right...

You were given advice at the time by a broker, which at the time offered you a more favourable deal. You accepted that advice, but now you think you're entitled to a tracker you were never on? Ah here.

As banks will very clearly tell you, rates can go up as well as down.

jarvis

Apologies also for hijacking but seems to be good responses here.

In Feb 2008 I took a mortgage with Ptsb and they gave me a tracker mortgage.
Their tracker at the time was ecb +0.75

I was given a 12 month discounted tracker rathe of ecb +0.5

When 12 months Discount ended I wanted the original ecb +0.75

But the only tracker option they would give was ecb +2.25

They gave that option and a lower variable along with a lower fixed rate.

I chose the tracker of ecb +2.25

I complained again in 2015 and they made a final decision that I chose ecb +2.25 so they did nothing wrong even though I pointed out I would be on ecb +0.75 if they hadn't applied their "Special Offer" and that I chose that option because they refused any other tracker option.

I have sent it off this week to the financial ombudsman but I'm inside if I do actually have a case and if I would be classed as one of the people who're part of the tracker mortgage scandal.

Anyone got an opinion?

davesull

Hi Jarvis

I am very interested to hear how you get on as I am in a similar situation.

I too got a tracker in early 2008 with 1% above ECB. It was discounted to .75 for 12 months and then after 12 months jumped to 3.25% above ECB or else I could go to a fixed rate.

Did you contact Permanent TSB directly in recent times?

Cheers
David

jarvis

davesull wrote: »

Hi Jarvis

I am very interested to hear how you get on as I am in a similar situation.

I too got a tracker in early 2008 with 1% above ECB. It was discounted to .75 for 12 months and then after 12 months jumped to 3.25% above ECB or else I could go to a fixed rate.

Did you contact Permanent TSB directly in recent times?

Cheers
David

I had a sit down meeting with them in 2015. Their response was "computer says no".

I wrote a formal complaint in 2015 after that meeting and they replied saying "computer says no".

victor8600

jarvis wrote: »

Apologies also for hijacking but seems to be good responses here.

In Feb 2008 I took a mortgage with Ptsb and they gave me a tracker mortgage.
Their tracker at the time was ecb +0.75

I am in a bit of a similar situation, had the original tracker ecb+1% in 2008, then went with a discount fixed rate. After that PTSB (in 2009) have offered me a choice of variable, more expensive tracker (probably ecb+3.5%) or fixed. I chose the variable as I hoped to switch the mortgage to another bank :ermm: So now I wonder if they had an obligation to offer me the original tracker deal in 2009?

herlihyd

Hi guys, looking for advise, myself and my partner had a tracker mortgage in 2006 we split up in 2007 and I wanted to buy him out, so I went to my bank and handed payslips etc, they came back and saidvi could afford to repayments on my own but would need a new mortgage number, which I thought ok, weeks later I went in to sign the paperwork, and realised I wouldn't have my tracker it was a new fixed rate, if course I was upset and was just told either sign for the new fixed rate or loose my home because they knew I was under pressure from my ex to pay him off . I asked could I continue with my tracker on my outstanding balance and go on a fixed rate on the extra cash I needed to pay off my ex, they Said no, but later on as in years later, I heard stories of people buying out their ex partners and held onto their tracker.

ANXIOUS

herlihyd wrote: »

Hi guys, looking for advise, myself and my partner had a tracker mortgage in 2006 we split up in 2007 and I wanted to buy him out, so I went to my bank and handed payslips etc, they came back and saidvi could afford to repayments on my own but would need a new mortgage number, which I thought ok, weeks later I went in to sign the paperwork, and realised I wouldn't have my tracker it was a new fixed rate, if course I was upset and was just told either sign for the new fixed rate or loose my home because they knew I was under pressure from my ex to pay him off . I asked could I continue with my tracker on my outstanding balance and go on a fixed rate on the extra cash I needed to pay off my ex, they Said no, but later on as in years later, I heard stories of people buying out their ex partners and held onto their tracker.

So you took out a new mortgage and they explained to you the terms and conditions of the new mortgage and you went ahead with it?

herlihyd

It wasn't explained to me until the day I went into sign, I noticed my tracker was been taken from me, and with them telling me I'd loose my home unless I agreed to the new terms, sure I was 25 yrs old, they knew I hassle and pressure I was under to pay my ex partner off, so of course I panicked and signed, but they were still offering tracker mortgages, why was I not offered even with it being a new mortgage, I feel they knew exactly what they were doing and took advantage of my situation.

phormium

Some banks allowed couples to remove one from the existing mortgage, whatever the type, and continue on with it in one name if they had sufficient income. Some did not and insisted on a brand new mortgage.

If you actually borrowed extra money that makes it much likely that it would have to be a brand new mortgage in your own name only rather than just the removing of a name.

But in 2007 trackers were still available so should in theory have been available on the new mortgage, unless you only qualified for the higher mortgage based on taking a fixed rate, some fixed rate mortgages were not stress tested for repayments meaning that customers could borrow more if the chose a fixed rate than they could on a variable rate.

No obvious reason why you couldn't have gone for a tracker at that time as they were still available unless it was a question of affordability. You could have applied to another lender for one.

ANXIOUS

herlihyd wrote: »

It wasn't explained to me until the day I went into sign, I noticed my tracker was been taken from me, and with them telling me I'd loose my home unless I agreed to the new terms, sure I was 25 yrs old, they knew I hassle and pressure I was under to pay my ex partner off, so of course I panicked and signed, but they were still offering tracker mortgages, why was I not offered even with it being a new mortgage, I feel they knew exactly what they were doing and took advantage of my situation.

You could've went to any bank in the country, you didn't need to stay with your existing bank. Also It was around that time banks stopped tracker mortgages all together.

herlihyd

Trackers were still been given out a year later, to apply to another bank would have taken longer, like I said I was under pressure from my ex.

phormium

Well unfortunately that was not going to be of concern to the bank, they don't appear to have done anything wrong in your case.

Trackers finished from around mid 2008

rainbowtrout

herlihyd wrote: »

Trackers were still been given out a year later, to apply to another bank would have taken longer, like I said I was under pressure from my ex.

You were taking out a new mortgage, the bank was under no obligation to offer you a tracker on a new mortgage. One of the main issues with trackers was that customers that were initially offered a tracker and went onto a fixed rate at some time during the course of the mortgage and then came off the fixed rate were no longer offered the tracker and they should have been.

A bank is not ever obliged to offer a tracker mortgage on a new mortgage, it's entirely at their discretion, and even if they were offering them to customers a year later, they chose not to offer one to you. Being under pressure from your ex is not their fault. An application to another bank might have taken longer, but not forever, your ex would have had to wait, what else could they have done.

CeilingFly

herlihyd wrote: »

Hi guys, looking for advise, myself and my partner had a tracker mortgage in 2006 we split up in 2007 and I wanted to buy him out, so I went to my bank and handed payslips etc, they came back and saidvi could afford to repayments on my own but would need a new mortgage number, which I thought ok, weeks later I went in to sign the paperwork, and realised I wouldn't have my tracker it was a new fixed rate, if course I was upset and was just told either sign for the new fixed rate or loose my home because they knew I was under pressure from my ex to pay him off . I asked could I continue with my tracker on my outstanding balance and go on a fixed rate on the extra cash I needed to pay off my ex, they Said no, but later on as in years later, I heard stories of people buying out their ex partners and held onto their tracker.

Banks were obliged under the consumer protection code which was in force from August 2006 to offer ALL suitable options.

I reckon you have a case.

Possibly go onto the specialist site askaboutmoney.com and post the same query.

A lot of experienced mortgage / tracker posters there and some may have similar story

phormium

But it may not have been a suitable option if affordability criteria only allowed for a fixed.

Worth a try I suppose, everyone is jumping on the tracker bandwagon these days but it doesn't sound like a good case to me.

I would agree it's worth posting on askaboutmoney to get more opinions.

Tenigate

victor8600 wrote: »

I am in a bit of a similar situation, had the original tracker ecb+1% in 2008, then went with a discount fixed rate. After that PTSB (in 2009) have offered me a choice of variable, more expensive tracker (probably ecb+3.5%) or fixed. I chose the variable as I hoped to switch the mortgage to another bank :ermm: So now I wonder if they had an obligation to offer me the original tracker deal in 2009?

There is a high chance that you'd be entitled to the original rate.. they currently have a team of people dealing with these cases, though they generally wait until you are selling your house or change provider before they offer to investigate for you- by which time, they'll hope you tell them you don't want to investigate (and hold up the sale).
A very, very despicable bank and imo treated their customers the worst during the downturn.

DANNY2014

Have you to write to the bank first to get them to investigate your case... Tracker was an option in original contract and again on another document in 06 but disappears from 08...

charleville

Hi,

Seems a lot of people are disgruntled with the banks (and rightly so in many cases).

Myself and my buddy bought a house in 2006 through Ics and was advised to fix at the time for 2 years even though we could have opted for the tracker, we done this just for a bit of stability to get on our feet etc and get things going.

After this 2 years was up (06-08), we fixed again for 2 more years as the fix rate was considerably lower than the tracker rate at the time.

Then In 2010 the Bank sent us out an offer letter, but this time it only gave options of fixing for either 2, 3 or 5 years!! No tracker available, no variable even available... we Just went with what we thought was the bet option we had and fixed for 3 years.

However after the 3 years we received a letter stating that keeping in line with the central bank etc we were being reverted to a tracker mortgage and we didn’t need to do anymore etc, was delighted at the time, but was also very pee’d off that it wasn’t offered to us in 2010 and we genuinely struggled to keep up those repayments at the time.

My question is, what are my options or rights here or what should I do now about not being offered the low tracker rate when I should have ?

Tks for your time

Oral Surgeon

A very gray area IMO

When the first fixed rate term was up, you should have been offered the tracker again and it sounds like you were offered the tracker and choose the fixed....
I'm a little uncertain if you should have been offered the tracker after the second fixed rate term as you rejected the tracker option when given the chance but I may well be wrong. Odd that you were only offered fixed terms!!

Anyway, the fact that they came back and put you on the tracker 3 years later is them essentially admitting that they neglected to offer you what you were entitled to.

I'd say that you have a case.

What bank is it??

charleville wrote: »

Hi,

Seems a lot of people are disgruntled with the banks (and rightly so in many cases).

Myself and my buddy bought a house in 2006 through Ics and was advised to fix at the time for 2 years even though we could have opted for the tracker, we done this just for a bit of stability to get on our feet etc and get things going.

After this 2 years was up (06-08), we fixed again for 2 more years as the fix rate was considerably lower than the tracker rate at the time.

Then In 2010 the Bank sent us out an offer letter, but this time it only gave options of fixing for either 2, 3 or 5 years!! No tracker available, no variable even available... we Just went with what we thought was the bet option we had and fixed for 3 years.

However after the 3 years we received a letter stating that keeping in line with the central bank etc we were being reverted to a tracker mortgage and we didn’t need to do anymore etc, was delighted at the time, but was also very pee’d off that it wasn’t offered to us in 2010 and we genuinely struggled to keep up those repayments at the time.

My question is, what are my options or rights here or what should I do now about not being offered the low tracker rate when I should have ?

Tks for your time

charleville

Hi there,

Yes that is what I think too, not just jumping the band wagon here but it seems to be black and white in my case ?
I’m not sure though which is why I’m asking advice.

The bank was ICS which is now Bank of Ireland

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

A very gray area IMO

When the first fixed rate term was up, you should have been offered the tracker again and it sounds like you were offered the tracker and choose the fixed....
I'm a little uncertain if you should have been offered the tracker after the second fixed rate term as you rejected the tracker option when given the chance but I may well be wrong. Odd that you were only offered fixed terms!!

Anyway, the fact that they came back and put you on the tracker 3 years later is them essentially admitting that they neglected to offer you what you were entitled to.

I'd say that you have a case.

What bank is it??

Oral Surgeon

charleville wrote: »

Hi there,

Yes that is what I think too, not just jumping the band wagon here but it seems to be black and white in my case ?
I’m not sure though which is why I’m asking advice.

The bank was ICS which is now Bank of Ireland

Call them

This is the dedicated line for BoI
1890882722

charleville

Thanks oral surgeon, I’ll try call them tomorrow.

Hope they don’t try and fob me off though.

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Call them

This is the dedicated line for BoI
1890882722

Eire Go Brach

Could someone tell me the dates that this applies to?

I got my mortgage in 2006. Fixed for 2 years. Offered and took tracker in 2008. 1.25 over the ECB. I’m probably fine. But might as well jump on the bandwagon. Tracker to high etc.