Caitriona Redmond: Mortgage holders like us were put off track by the banks' myths

Before the Central Bank commenced its investigation, 99 family homes were lost — homes that people had striven for and cherished. Picture: iStock

Do you know what it’s like to be persistently told you’re wrong even when you have evidence that you’re in the right?

I, and tens of thousands of other tracker mortgage holders were right.

Yet, no matter how many times we presented the proof that we were correct, using the banks’ own paperwork, we were still told we were not entitled to our tracker mortgages.

“So you say,” scoffed a senior manager on a phone call when I pleaded that I was entitled to my tracker mortgage back. There was a palpable air of irritation down the line.

“You are in danger of losing your home,” read the letters admonishing me for being in arrears on a mortgage that was several hundred euro per month more expensive than it should have been, 40% more expensive than I now pay monthly.

Were we going insane? Was there a mass delusion spreading across the nation, affecting mortgage holders across all the banks? 

The banks sat behind their fortifications of technical terminology and hundreds of legal professionals on their payroll — they perpetuated the myth that they were right and their customers wrong. 

These institutions reinstated only a select few until the Central Bank commenced an investigation which ultimately would result in about 40,000 mortgages restored to their correct rates (so far).

Before that happened, 99 family homes were lost — homes that people had striven for and cherished. Two hundred and sixteen investment properties were lost, and for the most part these represented pension plans which came to nought.

The burden on tracker customers has been immeasurable. For some, the toll was too much and their lives were lost. Relationships broke down under severe financial strain.

When money worries pervade every single facet of your life, there is little space for each other, I know from bitter experience. Money is one of the main causes of arguments between couples and considering how dire our situation became I marvel at the fact that I’m still married.

Yet, my husband is the one who has dried my tears and held me when I had panic attacks over dealing with the bank. We leaned against one another through this terrible time. 

Like thousands of others, I have struggled with my mental and physical health as a result of this fiasco. 

At the height of the tracker scandal a number of years ago, I was hospitalised with a stomach ulcer brought on by stress. I still have stomach issues, they’ve never gone away.

Even after we knew we got our tracker mortgage back we lived in suspense waiting for our account to be rectified, and this took a year. 

I appealed the paltry compensation figure we were awarded and we referred our complaint to the Financial Ombudsman in Autumn 2019 and have yet to receive a ruling.

While the Ombudsman should have time to consider every complaint, complaints by their nature discriminate against the consumer and favour the bank until resolved. 

In its defence, the Ombudsman is dealing with a large influx of tracker-related complaints and they are all complex investigations.

The ruling against AIB on Wednesday this week stated that customers were affected between 2004-2022 — right to this very day. 

Central Bank investigations continue into several other lenders and individuals involved in the tracker fiasco. For those of us who lost their trackers, the repercussions will echo for many years to come.