AIB is reaching out to nearly 33,000 former Ulster Bank tracker mortgage customers, who transferred to it almost a year ago, with a token €100 goodwill payment. This gesture is part of an apology for the “teething problems” that affected some new customers during the transition.
“AIB is making a payment of €100 to former Ulster Bank tracker mortgage customers as a gesture of goodwill, to acknowledge any instances during their transfer where the customers’ experience fell short of our standards,” a spokesman confirmed, underlining the bank’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
The bank also assured that no customer would be financially disadvantaged due to any errors made during the transfer. “This is in addition to ensuring that no customer is out of pocket as a result of any error on our part. We look forward to continuing to support these customers in the years ahead,” the spokesman added.
The total cost of these goodwill payments amounts to €3.3 million. AIB acquired approximately €4 billion worth of tracker home loans, covering 33,000 accounts, from Ulster Bank last July. This acquisition represents 80 percent of the mortgages AIB had agreed to purchase from the UK-owned lender, which is withdrawing from the Irish market. The remaining €1 billion of loans are scheduled to transfer in the second half of this year.
In the immediate aftermath of the migration, AIB was compelled to issue apologies on two occasions last August due to problems experienced by some customers. Initially, the bank apologized to a group of tracker mortgage customers who had been mistakenly notified by letter of a sharper-than-expected increase in their monthly repayments from October. AIB clarified that the letter was incorrect, and those larger repayment increases would not occur.
Subsequently, the bank had to apologize to around 40 customers whose direct debits were cancelled following the transfer of mortgages from Ulster Bank.
Tracker mortgage holders have benefited from the lowest rates in the Irish market for over a decade, until the European Central Bank (ECB) began increasing rates almost two years ago. The ECB’s key lending rate, which tracker loans are pegged to, stood at zero from March 2016 until July 2022. The rate peaked at 4.5 percent last September but was reduced by a quarter of a percentage point last week.
