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Permanent TSB has conceded that another 200 mortgage customers were wrongly denied good-value trackers.
he concession comes nearly three years after the Central Bank-ordered tracker mortgage examination was to have concluded.
Permanent TSB’s admission is set to see the 200 affected customers getting thousands of euro in compensation and being given tracker mortgages.
It comes three years after the bank was fined €21m by the Central Bank for its tracker- mortgage failings.
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According to the Central Bank, Permanent TSB mistreated 2,007 of its tracker mortgage customers between 2004 and 2018, breaching 42 Central Bank regulations.
The bank’s new concession of 200 more cases comes after it lost a case taken to the Financial Services Ombudsman.
In that case a homeowner complained that he took out a mortgage in 2008 on a tracker rate.
The ombudsman agreed that the bank failed to adequately warn the complainant at the end of 2009 that by selecting a variable interest rate he would lose the entitlement to the tracker interest. The ombudsman told the bank to restore the customer’s tracker rate, refund overpaid interest over a 10-year period, and pay compensation of €3,500 for “loss, expense and inconvenience”.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty was in contact with the customer who won the case over a long period, and claimed the bank “fought this case tooth and nail”.
After the case was determined, Mr Doherty asked the bank to see it there were similar cases.
A letter sent to him from Permanent TSB boss Eamonn Crowley admits that the bank is currently assessing the implications of the ombudsman’s decision for other customers.
Mr Crowley said Permanent TSB has informed the Central Bank of the ombudsman’s decision.
“While it is too early to determine the final number of accounts that will definitively be impacted by this decision, initial indications are that it will be less than 200 accounts,” Mr Crowley said in a letter to Mr Doherty.
The TD said: “They have confirmed that they have so far identified up to 200 customers who are similarly affected.
“This is nearly three years after the tracker mortgage examination concluded, and comes on the back of a Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman complaint that PTSB fought.
“It shows the banks are still not proactive in providing redress, with some still dragging their heels.”
Permanent TSB has so far paid €54.3m in redress and compensation to 2,007 customers. The average pay-out is €27,000 each.
In a statement on the latest cases the bank said: “PTSB has provided redress and compensation to the customers who were identified during its tracker mortgage review as having had a right to a tracker mortgage.
“This case (heard by the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman) involves a customer who was not deemed impacted in the tracker mortgage examination.”
The bank said it has notified the Central Bank of Ireland of the ombudsman’s decision.
And it is currently reviewing implications for other customers.
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