Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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I will tell Ms Rowland of an incident. Sometimes when we talk about things here, they are far removed from what people are experiencing. Somebody misses their monthly mortgage payment of €375 because of the transfer over to the bank. This is a vulnerable customer. They go into the bank concerned and offer the €375 but the bank says they cannot accept it and it has to be done through the mortgage. I was very interested to hear what Ms Rowland said in terms of the frequency and the rules around that because they called her twice every day at 9.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. until last Thursday and they sent dozens of letters. This was a vulnerable customer who then stopped opening the letters. “Communication” is a very wide word in terms of the banks’ communications and their frequency. To me, that is an appalling way to treat somebody for €375.

I went into the bank with the person because I was concerned about any future credit rating if that person wanted to sell their home or whatever and avail of credit. The bank said that the information on the monthly missed payments would be sent to the credit reference agency, that the bank had no control over that whatsoever and the missed payments would be held against the person for five years. How can that be right for €375 in a switching situation for a vulnerable customer?