The Financial Ombudsman Service has received 200 complaints from borrowers angry about the Bank of Ireland’s decision to hike its mortgage rates.
The Ombudsman has confirmed that each case will be looked at individually.
A spokesman said: “What we would be looking at is the individual set of circumstances for each consumer – what were they told and what was the sales process.”
Justin Selig, of Landlord Action, is leading a possible class action by some 200 buy-to-let landlords.
Regulator the Financial Conduct Authority has said that its ability to act on the issue was limited – partly because the mortgages pre-dated regulation, and partly because so many of them were buy-to-let loans which are unregulated in any case.
On May 1, the bank increased its tracker mortgage rate for 13,500 borrowers – although it subsequently withdrew the hike for 1,200, saying that the product had not been sold clearly enough to them.
However, for thousands, the rate rose from Bank of England base rate plus 1.75% to base rate plus 4.49% for buy-to-let deals and base plus 2.49% for residential.
From October 1, it will rise again for residential borrowers to base plus 3.99%. The bank says it is due to higher capital requirements and that it was entitled to implement the rise because of a clause in its contract.
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