Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Tracker Mortgages: Discussion

2:00 pm

Photo of John McGuinnessJohn McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the Minister about the tracker mortgage numbers. At various stages during these committee hearings, members were assured that the peak had been reached in relation to case numbers, and that "This was it", only to be told a short time later of the huge increases in the number of those affected. We are now at the level of numbers that had been predicted by Padraic Kissane when he appeared before the committee. This was a figure that had not been accepted by the banks. As we commence 2018 and these hearings, I will give a flavour of the correspondence I have received by email. This individual was put back on to a tracker mortgage in 2016 and continued to contact the bank to find out when the bank would repay the money, when compensation or redress would be paid and so on. Ulster Bank kept on telling this person that it could not tell as it did not know. This email is dated 11 January. No one could tell her and no one could answer the questions.

I have received another email from another bank customer who was put back on a tracker mortgage by KBC when the person was confirmed last week as being an impacted case. This only happened after this customer turned up in the Public Gallery here when the bank was before this committee. This person has two other mortgage accounts with KBC and these have not yet been confirmed as being impacted or not. It is important to note that on the date KBC was before the committee, the bank told us nothing. It refused to tell the committee anything. From the emails that are starting to come in now at the beginning of 2018, we can see there is ongoing frustration and anger with the banks in not dealing with all of the cases. This is the fear I have. There is also a continued reluctance on the part of the banks to show any sign of co-operation. They have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this point. With regard to the banks and the Central Bank, is the Minister provided with minutes of the board meetings?

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