Bank of Ireland is writing to 47,000 restructured-loan customers to apologise over errors in reporting amended agreements to the Central Credit Register (CCR).
The issue relates to both mortgage and non-mortgage borrowers, typically over two-year period. The bank will liaise directly with customers who have been negatively affected by reporting mistakes when it comes to assessing potential compensation.
“The issue involved loans which had been restructured, for example where the term of the loan was extended or where the customer was paying interest only for a period of time.
The error relates to the restructure being reported incorrectly or not reported to the CCR and there are c.47,000 loan agreements involved,” a spokesman for the bank said.
“While we believe the number of customers adversely impacted to be small with four customer complaints identified in relation to this error to date, we deeply regret any inconvenience to any of our customers from this error.”
The issue was first reported by the Irish Independent on Tuesday.
Failures to report loan restructures to the CCR may have worked in the favour of many customers. However, others may have been negatively affected by the bank reporting more relaxed terms - such as longer periods of interest-only payments - than were actually the case.
The CCR is a Central Bank-run database that collects credit information on a monthly basis from lenders for loans of €500 or more. The database provides information to lenders when making credit assessments on potential loans.
