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How Can Solicitors in Dublin Assist You with Tracker Mortgage Overcharging?

olivialixx47 November 29, 2021

The tracker mortgage overcharging scandal row dates back to 2008 when the Irish bank was still called Permanent and offered banking and insurance. 

The customers affected by this scandal had taken out their tracker mortgage loans with Permanent TSB, or the subsidiary company Springboard Mortgaged Limited associated with it. Some of those individuals availed an offer by the Central bank to temporarily shift to a fixed-rate mortgage for a fixed period. That too, with a written agreement that they will revert back to their original mortgage after the promised time gets expired.

Midway through, the interest rates of different mortgages started falling apart. Some customers got in touch with their related banks to see if there was a legal way to escape their fixed-rate scheme early. But the banks critically told them that they could only do this with no penalty.

Unfortunately, the Irish banks failed to inform such customers that leaving fixed-rate mortgages will finish the chance of getting back on their original tracker. Instead, they would get a standard variable rate optionally. Thus, just with the clearance of products, the affected customers unknowingly lost their tracker mortgages.

tracker mortgage overcharging

Who was affected by the tracker mortgage overcharging scandal?

According to a valuable source of information regarding tracker mortgage scandal, there are three scenarios in which different Irish banks’ mortgage takers were affected. Those affected people primarily included the following:

  1. Borrowers who were illegally denied their legal right to get a tracker interest rate
  2. Individuals who were not given a free option of the interest rate implied on their tracker mortgage
  3. People who did not get the correct tracker mortgage interest rate as per their agreed contract

How to determine whether my mortgage is a tracker or not?

In order to find out this, you will have to take the following two steps:

  1. Go to your acted solicitors in Dublin who assisted you in taking out a mortgage loan. At the same time, the original terms and conditions decided at the time of lending must be mentioned on your mortgage file. Those terms and conditions will let you determine whether your mortgage loan was a tracker mortgage or not.
  2. Secondly, you will have to request the bank to access your data. You are entitled to all your personal information that your mortgage lending bank retains and holds on you. The mortgage lending terms and conditions will also be present in that data. Therefore, you will have to request to get the relevant information. You can either request this yourself. Or some best solicitors in Dublin can bid this on your behalf. Either way, you go, the main thing is to get the correct information.

What should you do if you find out you are one of the overcharged customers?

The Central Bank of Ireland has directed several banks to offer compensation and redress and compensation who have been affected by the tracker mortgage overcharging scandal. Let’s see what they are:

Compensation

Compensation payment is described as the amount that is a reward to the detriment suffered by the affected customers. And that is a payment in addition to the legal redress payment.

Redress

While, on the other hand, the Central Bank described it as a payment that is to return the position and designation of the affected customer on which he would have been if the scandal had not arisen. Therefore, redress usually involves shifting the customer to the accurate interest rate. It also somehow includes refunding any overpayments that were made due to the error of the mortgage lender.

Conclusion

If you find out that you have been affected by the tracker mortgage overcharging by your bank, contact a solicitor as soon as possible. Also, make sure that you have a copy of the calculations handy as legal proof. Even if you already accepted an offer of out-of-court tracker mortgage compensation, you can still request in court if you feel that the amount received is inadequate.

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