Ombudsman: Banks can’t stop return to tracker rate

Banks cannot auto-matically deny customers the right to return to a tracker rate mortgage if they switch temporarily to a fixed rate, the financial services ombudsman has confirmed.

Bill Prasifka said of 500 complaints to his office relating to mortgages in the latter half of last year, 100 were linked to tracker mortgages. Mr Prasifka said there were cases where the mortgage contract clearly showed that customers could return to the tracker rate even if they switched temporarily to a fixed-rate.

“The only thing that has changed is that they are on a fixed rate for a short period of time. In all other regards, their original mortgage holds. That’s a very clear case that someone is always entitled to a tracker,” Mr Prasifka said.