THE Citizens' Advice Bureau in Dungannon and Cookstown has received a flood of complaints from disgruntled customers of the Ulster Bank in the wake of the latest crisis, with CAB staff amongst those left without money!
And Mid-Ulster MLAs have also voiced their concerns at how the bank's customers have been treated.
The manager of the Citizens' Advice Bureau in Dungannon and Cookstown has reported a "significant" increase in the number of enquiries received at their offices.
Between eight and 10 enquiries have been made each day over the last 10 days, estimated Sharon Dillon.
"From what the staff have been saying there is an increase in the number of people who are distressed and anxious. We're finding people are particularly concerned about their mortgage payments because a lot of mortgage lenders in England don't appreciate what's happening. By the time it's sorted out people could missed two months in mortgage payments."
The manager also said she had learned of a young couple who had to come home early from a honeymoon.
Continued Sharon: "The people who we are dealing with are primarily the employees of people who bank with Ulster Bank. It has even affected us as some of our employees bank with Ulster Bank and we've sent their wages through but they haven't shown up."
She continued: "Local complaints are not with the bank front line staff. People are just worried about the wider implications. The bank has been very slow to react compared to England and Wales. It has left us feeling very much like second class citizens. There needs to be some investigation afterwards."
On Thursday the Assembly Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment questioned the Ulster Bank, including Chief Executive Jim Brown, on the crisis.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Phil Flanagan MLA, said: "As Assembly members we are outraged that the problems affecting local people have gone on for such an extended period of time. It is incomprehensible that the Bank has not made more information available to its customers, leaving them effectively in a limbo situation. It is also perplexing that this situation has gone on for almost three weeks and looks likely to continue for up to another two weeks."
Mid-Ulster MLA Sandra Overend attended the committee meeting on Thursday. She said: "I welcome the fact that the Ulster Bank sent such a senior team to appear in front of the Committee. There was a frank exchange of views and some in depth questioning and I feel they provided us with more information than had previously been the case.
"This episode has been an absolute disaster for Ulster Bank. They were slow to respond, slow to explain the situation and in particular were slow to explain exactly what the problem was and why it had occurred. Deadlines kept moving and people simply did not know where they stood."
"I challenged the Ulster Bank as to whether or not they had learned from these communication failures, in relation to both customers and their staff in the branches.
"The Committee will be contacting business organisations to establish the full scale of the impact of this dreadful situation and we look forward to meeting with Ulster Bank again following the outcome of their promised internal review.
"My sympathies lies entirely with those customers who have faced real hardship and inconvenience in their personal or business lives. Lessons must be learned so that this is situation can never happen again."
The DUP's Ian McCrea has also added his voice to the growing chorus of condemnation. Commenting from Parliament Buildings on Tuesday, the DUP's Mr McCrea said: "It has been well publicized and indeed the public can testify to the continued failings of the Ulster Bank with its efforts to restore payments systems. I have had countless constituents contact my constituency offices detailing the real hardship caused by having no access to their own money.
Mr McCrea emphasised that he was not blaming local banking staff for the crisis: "It is important to state the fact that this is not the fault of the local banks and those on the front line are on the firing line and I can understand the pressure they must be under because of this fault. However, to the high rollers in the Ulster Bank and RBS, customers need urgent results and in the aftermath of this crisis I trust that Ulster Bank will make good on their word that no one will be out of pocket."
Ulster Unionist Assembly member Tom Elliott called on the Ulster Bank to show some generosity to its "badly let down" customers.
Tom said: "The last few years have shown that banks are much more than profit generators for their bosses and shareholders, they are vital to just about everyone's daily life, that's why the government pumped billions into them in the last few years, including the Ulster and its parent company.
"I would hope that in return for the generosity shown to them they will treat those customers affected by the system failure with the same generosity.
"Many have been disadvantaged, some more than others, and it will take some time for it to work its way through the system, no one will ever be fully aware of the detriment it will cause to both individuals and businesses.
And Assemblyman Elliott says the problems must be fully investigated and says communication from the bank to its customers has not been up to scratch.
"There have been obviously serious failing within the Ulster Bank system, there is a need for this matter to be properly investigated and reported to their customers.
"On top of it all, the lack of accurate information coming from the Ulster Bank HQ made matters much worse. A bit of planning can prevent most disasters, but without up to date info I'm sure many failed to act or took the wrong actions based on out of date information."
Source: Tyrone Courier
Date: Wednesday 11 July 2012
