Central Bank Tracker Mortgage Examination Status Update

Status Update

• The Tracker Mortgage Examination (“the Examination”) remains a key priority for the Central Bank and we continue to challenge lenders to ensure progress is being made and fair outcomes are achieved for customers. We are doing this through bi-lateral meetings with both the lenders and their appointed external independent third party assurers and regular reporting and we will shortly commence on-site inspections of the lenders.
• Lenders are currently co-operating with the Central Bank regarding the Examination.
• To date, lenders have developed a detailed plan and framework, including establishing appropriate governance and reporting structures, for conducting the Examination; and are carrying out  the internal reviews of their mortgage books, to identify any customers who may have been impacted by a failure to honour a customer’s contractual entitlements, or comply with the regulatory requirements regarding disclosure and transparency of information.
• It is important to note that some lenders may have their internal reviews completed sooner than others depending on the size of their mortgage books, the order in which they have commenced reviewing their mortgage books and the complexities associated with them completing the Examination.  In this regard, one lender will shortly be making a public announcement in relation to the progress it has made on its internal review.
• The Central Bank is also continuing to engage with Consumer Groups as well as the Financial Services Ombudsman to help inform this work.

What Impacted Customers can Expect

As each lender makes progress in completing their internal reviews, and when groups of impacted customers are identified, in the first instance, the lender must stop charging the incorrect rate of interest on the customer’s account, and then communicate this to the customer, to ensure that any further customer detriment is stopped as early as possible.

Once a full review of the customer’s account is complete, following external independent third party assurance, the lender will then issue a letter to the customer explaining the nature of the error, the correct rate to apply to the customer’s account and information on the next steps in the Examination, including the redress and compensation process.

If a customer has a tracker related concern they should contact their lender through the normal contact channels and they will be forwarded to the lender’s dedicated unit.

A further update on progress on the Examination will be issued before the end of the year.

For further information, read our previous update here.