Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Doherty. The Department continues to work closely with the Central Bank on all mortgage related matters. Changes in the interest rate on a tracker mortgage are determined by any movement in the underlying rate being tracked and, in line with the terms and conditions of the mortgage contract, these changes are applied to tracker mortgages customers by their lenders.

This approach applies to all tracker mortgage customers, including those who have remained with the original lender, and to borrowers whose tracker mortgages were purchased by another entity.

Where a loan is sold or transferred to another regulated entity, the protections that were available to borrowers prior to the transaction continue to be in place with the new owner. Under the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2018, if a loan is transferred or sold, the holder of the legal title to the credit must be authorised by the Central Bank and must comply with Irish financial services law that applies to “regulated financial service providers”. This ensures that consumers whose loans are sold or transferred maintain the same regulatory protections, including under the various Central Bank statutory codes of conduct, such as the Consumer Protection Code 2012 and the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears 2013.

In relation to the tracker mortgage examination, the Central Bank's final report of the supervisory phase of the examination was published in July 2019. It outlined that over 40,000 customer accounts were impacted by lender failings and that almost €700 million of redress and compensation was paid to impacted borrowers, and borrowers were returned to the appropriate tracker rate as necessary. The Central Bank has also concluded enforcement actions and imposed fines on lenders for their tracker-related failures.

I have been informed by the Central Bank that it will now monitor developments in the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, FSPO, and the courts in relation to the tracker issue to see if any further action is required by it arising from decisions which may be made in those forums. The FSPO has indicated that, as of 14 October 2022, it had identified 1,077 complaints on hand as being tracker mortgage interest rate-related complaints and, to that date in 2022, it had identified 113 new complaints as being tracker mortgage interest rate-related, closed 172 tracker mortgage interest rate-related complaints and reopened 11 such complaints.

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