Ms Hazel Melbourne:

I have written something, if that is okay.

I thank the joint committee for giving me time to speak. As I am quite nervous, I ask it to, please, bear with me. I have three minutes in which to tell it about how Permanent TSB's overcharging for eight years has affected my family. I do not know where to start.

There is one major consequence that I do not want to disclose in public, by which I assume Permanent TSB will be delighted. Committee members are more than welcome to read my statement and I hope they will to find out about the catastrophic effect Permanent TSB's actions have had on us as a family. We have had to change our expectations for our future and not for the good. The consequences we have endured at the hands of Permanent TSB are devastating, heartbreaking and totally unacceptable and it will never be able to compensate us. It has taken a huge part of our lives away from us. For six years we have had no control over our true finances and our destiny and we are still suffering the consequences. To think that month after month we were being overcharged by an extortionate amount, struggling to manage what was left of our finances, blaming ourselves and suffering horrific stress as a couple, and then found out via a letter six years later that it had all been down to a so-called error made by the bank was inconceivable. It still is. We are sick to the pit of our stomachs that all of what we have been through was avoidable. There was no need for our future to have been changed. It feels like Permanent TSB is a giant cartel and that there is nowhere to turn for help as somebody is always compromised by the banks.

Where do the people stand on an issue such as this? We did nothing to deserve this, yet we are still in turmoil in trying to have the matter resolved. Where is the justice for us? We were unsuccessful in our appeal on the basis that we had not shown that the financial and non-financial damage was caused by the bank and that it had not been shown that it was foreseeable or could have been anticipated that we would suffer the non-financial losses claimed as a result of the bank's failure. We need to clarify that there are certain situations where the provision of conclusive evidential proof is impractical and impossible and that it does not mean that the bank is not responsible without it. If one reads our appeal, any human being will acknowledge that each of the issues claimed was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Permanent TSB. I made an important call to Permanent TSB to request that we be switched to a tracker mortgage to help ease our situation at the end of our two-year fixed rate period. I asked for a copy of what had been said during this phone call as proof in my appeal. Permanent TSB informed me that it had no record of the phone call owing to technical issues at the time, yet in the rejection of appeal letter, it is stated we never made contact about our mortgage difficulties. These are more convenient lies. Again, where do we stand on this issue?

I cannot understand how Permanent TSB is allowed to carry out the appeals process. It is only fair that it should be carried out by an non-compromised independent body, if such a body exists. One only has to look at the percentage of successful appeals to realise this. I know that Deputy John McGuinness stated in February that the fair treatment of tracker mortgage debtors was a key policy focus for this committee and that it was looking forward to further engagement on the matter. I am literally begging the committee to help not just my family but everyone out there who has suffered horrifically at the hands of the bank. We need someone to listen to Mr. Kissane and stand up for families like mine who are being bullied by banks and not being given back what is rightfully theirs. We have been through enough. The bank should be forced to restore customers to their correct tracker rate and compensation should then be calculated at the correct margin. That should be done, at the very least.