2 weeks Ago
A firm that manages mortgages on behalf of vulture fund owners has insisted that customers have not had their trackers taken off them. Confusion arose when a number of mortgages that had been serviced by a firm named Cabot were moved to another, BCM Global in Dublin. Customers feared losing the trackers after some of them were put on a fixed rate for a period.
This caused some tracker customers to worry they would not benefit from the last two European interest-rate cuts, and more European Central Bank (ECB) rate cuts that are expected in the coming months. The Central Bank said it was aware of a problem at BCM Global, a firm that services loans owned by vulture funds. The problem affects around 150 homeowners with mortgages recently transferred to loan servicer BCM Global.
One homeowner, who did not want to be named, said he was told by the credit servicer his rate had been fixed. He is taking a case to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). The man said he had spoken to the FSPO and a staff member there advised him he had a case.
The borrower said: “I have been with Cabot for the past few years. My loans were recently sold to BCM Global. “The two most recent tracker-rate decreases should have seen my repayments decrease.
“I have been informed that my repayments are now fixed due to an issue with Cabot providing information on the mortgage pre the loan sale.” At the time he contacted the Irish Independent , he said that he had not received any notification from either Cabot or BCM about the move to fix the repayments on their tracker mortgages. “I think this is absolute scandalous what BCM have done without any notification,” he said.
BCM Global describes itself as a leading European independent loan services provider. It has operations in Ireland, Italy, the UK and the Netherlands, and recently added 45 new roles in its offices in this country, bringing its total workforce in Ireland to over 600 staff. A recent letter to the borrower from BCM Global said his monthly repayment was staying at €1,507.
45, despite two ECB rate cuts that are supposed to automatically be passed on to tracker customers. “BCM confirmed to me they decided to fix it due to issues with the loan sale from Cabot,” he said. BCM Global in Ireland explained it had become the credit servicer for 150 mortgage accounts, of which 89 are tracker, as part of a recent loan migration.
“Prior to the loans migrating from the previous servicer, BCM Global identified a legacy issue related to the amortisation of certain loans,” it said. “Specifically, we observed that a small number of loans had not been configured to fully amortise over their term.” It said it fixed repayments on the accounts when the mortgages transferred to it to “minimise customer impact and to prevent a payment shock for customers as a result of a sudden repayment increase”.
BCM Global said it was continuing to apply and pass on the benefit to customers of all recent ECB rate reductions. It is understood those who want to keep their trackers are allowed to do this. “BCM Global communicated with all migrating customers, outlining the changes and invited customers to contact us with any concerns,” it said.
“To date, a number of customers have already engaged with us, and we have adjusted repayments in line with customer preferences.” The Central Bank of Ireland said it “has been engaging with BCM Global ASI Limited in relation to an issue affecting some customers”..
