Bank told to provide real person for customer

A judge has told banks they will have to provide real people, and not just faceless voices at the end of a callcentre phone, to deal with client complaints about their financial problems.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane yesterday adjourned until March an application by Vhp Ireland Limited for judgment for almost €30,000 against a Dublin taxi owner who had bought his Ford Mondeo car initially through Bank of Scotland.

Bank of Scotland, in early 2012, sold its multi- million-euro loan book which had been bought by Vhp Ireland Limited, part of a US investment group.

When an application for judgment came before the circuit civil court yesterday the taxi owner Declan Greaves, of Woodavens, Clondalkin, Dublin, said he was prepared to enter a new €300-a-month agreement with Vhp to pay off the debt over the next eight years.

Mr Greaves, who represented himself, said this proposed agreement had been put to Vhp’s acting solicitor because he had been unable to make direct contact with an employee of the finance company. He would be answered by someone who had no power to make new or change existing agreements.

Judge Linnane told Vhp’s legal representatives they would have to provide Mr Greaves with the identity of a real person with whom Mr Greaves could meet.

Last week Judge Linnane directed the legal representatives of Tanager Ltd, another company that had bought loan books, to provide a man facing eviction from his home with the identity and number of a real person he could meet.

Alan McDonald, of 3, Hayworth Place, Ongar, Dublin, has a repossession order outstanding against him but had been granted a stay. To facilitate a meeting between Tanager and Mr McDonald, who represented himself, she extended the stay on the possession order until mid-April next year.