Watchdog rejects 500 customer complaints

THE Financial Services Ombudsman has already rejected more than 500 complaints from homeowners who were wrongly moved off their tracker mortgage rates, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal

It comes just as victims of the scandal are being urged to bring their complaints to the financial regulator.

The Financial Services Ombudsman Ger Deering yesterday urged those who were moved off trackers to work through the ongoing process. He said: ‘I do appreciate that it is taking time and that it is frustrating and very difficult for people. But the best, and fastest, way of getting an outcome to this is to work through the Central Bank process. If they’re not happy with what has come out of that process, they can come to us.’

However, the Mail has learned the FSO has in fact rejected 500 such complaints – and many families have come forward to tell us they too were turned away from the ombudsman.

Fergus Haverty – a 40-year-old software engineer who lives in Ratoath, Co. Meath, with his wife and two young children – took out a mortgage with his spouse in 2006, with IIB Homeloans. Although originally on a tracker, they switched to a fixed rate for two years. By the time the fixed-rate period was coming to an end, KBC had bought out IIB. But instead of being returned to the tracker, they were placed on a variable rate.

Mr Haverty said: ‘We ended up taking a case to the FSO in 2009. He agreed that the documentation was confusing. We were able to show the IIB fixed-rate notice compared to the KBC fixed-rate notice from later on.

‘There was a lot more clarity to the KBC one. While they advised that there was confusion, they sided with the bank.’

And a woman who was wrongly put on a higher rate also had her complaint rejected. Helen Grogan had bought in 2006.