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RollingNews.ie

18,000 overcharged business accounts: Ulster Bank admits some customers complained five years ago

In a recent review the bank found it did not have the right five years ago to raise the rate of interest for for these customers.

ULSTER BANK HAS acknowledged that some business customers who have been overcharged on loan repayments for the last five years did complain to the bank at the time their contracts were changed.

Last week the bank revealed that it had discovered documentation issues in relation to 18,000 commercial loan accounts. The discovery was made in the course of a wide-ranging review in the bank launched as part of the tracker mortgage redress process.

Speaking to members of the Oireachtas Finance Committee this afternoon, acting CEO Paul Stanley said customers were informed in letters in 2012 that the bank was changing the definition of ‘Cost of Funds’, a variable component of interest rate charged on the account.

This essentially meant the rate of interest for these customers increased.

He said the bank found in this recent review that contractually it did not have the right to change those rates in the case of 18,000 accounts.

“We do apologise, it is not right what happened,” he said.

“The overcharge is on average less than 0.3% per year over the lifetime of the overcharge,” Stanley told the committee. “The average refund due is less than €2,000. The amount of overcharge will vary depending on the length of time a loan has been outstanding and the amount of the loan.”

Although he said the calculation of overcharged interests is “a complex exercise”, due in part to overdraft accounts, he said the bank expects redress and compensation to be paid the majority of impacted customers by the end of this year. There are currently 100 staff members working on this particular issue.

“Customers are not required to take any action, we will write to all impacted customers and provide remediation in due course. Should customers have any queries, we have a dedicated customer helpline and team in place to respond to queries from customers which is available on our website.”

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty questioned bank officials about the issue, asking them in particular whether any of these customers had complained to the bank back in 2012, when their contracts were changed.

Eddie Cullen, head of corporate and institutional banking, confirmed some of these customers did raise issues at the time, but added that there was “no particular spike” in complaints.

“It didn’t lead to any further investigation at the time, which we need to look into for sure,” he told the committee.

Members were also focused on the ongoing tracker mortgage scandal, which saw tens of thousands of customers across all the pillar banks overcharged because they were either denied the right to a tracker or were charged the incorrect rate of interest.

Ulster Bank has so far identified more than 5,000 impacted customers and has paid back and compensated 2,900 so far. However TDs and Senators told officials that they were hearing from many impacted customers that the bank was not communicating with them to indicate how their case was progressing or when they would get their money back.

Committee chair John McGuinness gave examples of customers who have been waiting since as far back as 2016 for a resolution and he said customers told him the bank’s staff were not returning their calls.

“That is unacceptable,” acting CEO Paul Stanley responded. He said the situation “should be appropriately explained to customers”.

Finishing up today’s proceedings, McGuinness said he hoped the Central Bank would do its job in terms of enforcement.

“I hope it kicks the Irish banks in the ass up and down the country.”

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    Mute Fintan O'Halloran
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:35 PM

    I’ve heard it all

    836
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    Mute John Mitten
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:41 PM

    @Fintan O’Halloran: not much that can actually be added to your comment. Over the last few days the claims have been out of this world. We have a man winning because he was promoted. Then a women because she informed her new employer she was 9weeks pregnant 1 week in to employment and was let go. But the promoted one is the best. I pray these are all satire

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    Mute fintolini
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:03 PM

    @John Mitten: Most new roles have a probationary period, 6 months and its for both employee and employer to ensure the role fits etc.
    Surely one of the parties could have realised in that time period that something fundamental wasn’t right. A process that encompasses a PIP rarely leads to satisfaction on both sides, perhaps if they looked at the actual cause of the issue, they could have moved him to a more suitable role and allowed another person who was more suitable for the role a chance.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:03 PM

    @John Mitten: one month in employment not one week.

    15
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    Mute John Mitten
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:10 PM

    @Hans Vos: read the article again. It states 1 week.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:30 PM

    @John Mitten: yea you’re right. Mea culpa!

    14
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    Mute John Mitten
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:38 PM

    @Hans Vos: none of these should have got a cent. I really hope courts over rule them.

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    Mute Al Madzer
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:57 PM

    @John Mitten: I think it’s a recommended payout. It’s not enforceable and usually the complainant has to go to court to attempt to get the money.

    18
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    Mute Bart
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    Aug 13th 2018, 9:08 AM

    @fintolini: ha ha ha, probation is for employee benefit, ha ha ha

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    Mute Gareth Cooney
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    Aug 13th 2018, 11:57 AM

    @John Mitten: plus the lady who sued for reading and responding to emails at home after work she was awarded €6k and appealed for more and won an additional €1.5k

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    Mute Jim
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    Aug 13th 2018, 2:36 PM

    @Fintan O’Halloran: muppet

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    Mute Stephen East
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:43 PM

    My god…..a legal article we can actually comment on

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    Mute John Mitten
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:48 PM

    @Stephen East: dreams do come true

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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    Aug 12th 2018, 11:16 PM

    @Stephen East: not really a legal article. Its a recommendation court basically. Bank can refuse to pay and it would mean fun at a civil court level

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    Mute Martin Flood
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:20 PM

    So he gets rewarded for being thick?

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    Mute G Fitz
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    Aug 12th 2018, 10:52 PM

    @Martin Flood: I don’t think he was thick, maybe lazy?

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    Mute ManUtdMan
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    Aug 12th 2018, 11:22 PM

    @G Fitz:Treated a serious position as a plum job, sacked & still worked out a way of getting paid from a bank. This boy ain’t thick lads.

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    Mute Ciaran O Shea
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:41 PM

    You can sue for anything in Ireland!!

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    Mute John Smith
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:21 PM

    I thought this was Waterford Whispers for a moment…

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    Mute ciaran kehoe
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:47 PM

    Who actually appoints these people who are on these committees making crazy decisions like that one. He gets awarded because is not up to the job & won’t take his training seriously. He would probably also have also won a case if he had not been promoted. Who in their right mind would want to be an employer in this country when no matter what you do employee’s win cases like this. The people making these awards are the ones not up to the job

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    Mute Fat Face 99
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:43 PM

    ‘His representative said he should have been demoted’

    I’m guessing that would have been worth more than €6600 for him……….

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    Mute Niall
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    Aug 12th 2018, 10:28 PM

    Well, I suppose he did work for a business that got 85billion from the taxpayer because it failed.

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Aug 13th 2018, 9:31 AM

    @Niall: I can’t see the name of the Bank anywhere … did I miss it ?

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    Mute Maria
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:58 PM

    Is it only me but why are their name’s never released? If I was an employer I would want to know the outcome of this case.

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    Mute Martin Flood
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    Aug 12th 2018, 10:12 PM

    @Maria: Exactly. And make sure he’s never promoted, just in case.

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    Mute Patrick O'Farrell
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    Aug 13th 2018, 12:37 AM

    I’d love to know which bank. I spent 15 yrs working with a large national bank and it was there I learned that AEDS (Arse Elbow Differentiation Syndrome) was rampant in management in Irish banks. If you played the game you got promoted but if you dared question you were as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit. Nothing has changed in the Irish banks, they reward incompetence and dishonesty and penalise honesty and engagement.

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    Mute Tracey Coleman
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    Aug 13th 2018, 7:48 PM

    @Patrick O’Farrell: Performance Improvement Plans are used in PTSB.

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    Mute James Noel Bradley
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:39 PM

    Good for him

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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Aug 13th 2018, 12:39 AM

    I’ m just wondering who gave him a job with a significant pay rise, and does he know what he has let himself in for.

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    Mute Jun Stone
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    Aug 13th 2018, 5:59 AM

    @Pixie McMullen: maybe, just maybe the bank were unreasonable and there’s nothing wrong with the guy, after all he has a new job with more money, you wouldn’t know what was at play here.

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    Mute George McCarthy
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:52 PM

    Why are these payments so low????

    34
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    Mute John Mitten
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    Aug 12th 2018, 8:59 PM

    @George McCarthy: As payments for stupidity go this is high.

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    Mute Gasher
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    Aug 13th 2018, 6:15 AM

    So basically a man applies for a job that he hasn’t got the skills/qualifications for and the sues his employer because HE was incompetent!!!!
    During the interview, I assume there was one, I would imagine he told the interviewers that he was the best thing since sliced bread.
    This country is heading down the drain.
    By the same token Leo could sue the state, saying that he was promoted to the top job by Enda, while Enda knew he was incompetent and hadn’t got the skills to carry out his duties. This would then set a precedent where Simon Harris, Paschal, Eoghan and a few more could sue the state to top up their giant pensions and golden handshakes.

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    Mute James Darby
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    Aug 12th 2018, 10:17 PM

    He’s obviously not so stupid after all, he’s just got over 6 grand for nothing.

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    Mute Rory J Leonard
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    Aug 12th 2018, 11:07 PM

    @James Darby:

    Sounds like this reasonable man quickly determined that the climb up the greasy pole to a more senior management role, and presumably additional pay, was not worth the effort and not all it’s cracked up to be, and decided to slide back down again to a quieter less stressful life. I can see the injustice here!

    He’s right to not let them take the pis.

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    Mute Gareth Cooney
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    Aug 13th 2018, 12:11 PM

    @Rory J Leonard: he’s gone on to fly a plane for Ryanair.

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    Mute Joseph Dempsey
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    Aug 13th 2018, 5:53 AM

    Interesting the Journal permitting comments on this case and yet not permitted on at least 10 other WRC cases over the past few weeks?

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    Mute Dave Slater
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    Aug 12th 2018, 9:57 PM

    The Peter Principle.

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    Mute Seán Kinsella
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    Aug 13th 2018, 7:11 AM

    It’s not work I’m after, it’s employment, your honour.

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    Mute Dan
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    Aug 12th 2018, 11:29 PM

    I should be making a fortune then…

    11
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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Aug 13th 2018, 7:44 AM

    If that’s the case all the government are entitled to it

    5
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    Mute Raymond McGee
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    Aug 13th 2018, 12:16 AM

    It is a legally binding decision by an individual WRC adjudicator but it can be appealed by either party to the Labour Court, a 3- person tribunal, whose decision is final

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