Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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257. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of appeals that have been made to the customers appeals panel section relating to a bank (details supplied) in view of the tracker mortgage issue; the number which have been fully upheld, partially upheld and totally dismissed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19792/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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PTSB has provided me with the following information in response to the Deputy’s question:

“Two appeals panels were established in 2015 as an integral part of the Mortgage Redress Programme (MRP) which Permanent TSB Group established to address the issue of 1,372 customers who had been impacted by a failure in relation to their mortgage accounts at the Bank or at its subsidiary, Springboard Mortgages.

"With the agreement of the Central Bank, the Independent Review Panel (IRP) and the Customer Appeals Panel (CAP) were established as independent entities under agreed Terms of References. The IRP was established to hear appeals from impacted customers who had lost ownership of the relevant property or who are now/were previously engaged in legal action with the Group over their mortgage. The CAP was established to hear appeals from all other impacted customers.

"The members of the panels include senior independent representatives from the legal and accountancy professions. Members were proposed by Permanent TSB and the Central Bank was informed of the identities of the individual members prior to their appointments. The panels are serviced by a secretariat which is itself independent of the bank.

"Customers bringing an appeal to either of these panels incur no charges for doing so from either Permanent TSB or from the panels themselves. Customers may bring an appeal even after accepting any payments made by the Bank in respect of the issue with no impact on their appeal what-so-ever. Customers who are unhappy with the outcome of the appeal are still entitled to pursue the matter to the Financial Service Ombudsman and/or the Courts.

"These appeal panels offer a reasonable, fast and cost free method for impacted customers to appeal the redress proposals set out by the Bank. Importantly the redress proposals may be appealed even though the customer has accepted the amounts offered. Taking an appeal to these panels does not limit the customer’s ability to appeal the matter further including to the Courts.

"To date appeals have been submitted to these panels in respect of just 20% of eligible cases (i.e. in respect of 273 accounts of the total population of 1,372 accounts). It should be noted that despite the Bank giving a full 12 months for customers to decide whether to appeal to these panels or not, 59 appeals (including 50 from one individual financial advisor) were submitted after the 12 month deadline had expired. Nevertheless, the panel in question reviewed the merits of each appeal and decided in all cases to allow them to be processed despite being outside the permitted time limit.

"The table details the outcome of appeals submitted. It is supplied by the Independent Secretariat which supports the panels.”