Cavan couple on RTÉ mortgage tracker scandal series tonight

'It's a gagging order. We didn’t do anything wrong' - Sonia Grace

THE CONCLUDING episode of the RTÉ documentary series “Trackers: The People V The Banks” features a Cavan couple.

The documentary is a two-part series which goes behind the headlines to tell the real story of the tracker mortgage scandal through the eyes of the people most affected.

Tonight’s final episode features Sonia and Michael Grace who bought their “forever home” in Cavan back in 2006.

They took out a tracker mortgage to fund the purchase and a few years later moved bank and fixed their rate for three years. But in 2011 when they sought to revert to a tracker mortgage they were told in no uncertain terms that this was not an option.

Sonia calculated that the difference between what they should have been paying and what the bank were charging them in the first four months was approximately €600 per month.

Had they been let return to their tracker mortgage Sonia says: “We wouldn’t have had to choose between fuel, food and coal. Our life ended up spiralling after that unfortunately, downhill.”

It’s a familiar tale, told repeatedly to the RTÉ documentary series. However, tonight’s programme reveals another concerning aspect to Michael and Sonia’s story has emerged.

They appealed their case through an independent appeal panel set up and run by their bank, under guidelines issued by the Central Bank.

Eventually, they won their case. They were awarded an additional €64,000 in compensation, a figure which they felt was still nowhere near enough to compensate them for the trauma they experienced at the hands of their bank. Exhausted after years of fighting, they decided to accept.

But when the settlement agreement arrived, it contained a confidentiality clause. They are adamant that they felt obliged to sign it or risk losing their award from the panel.

“You get your award, but then you have to sign this confidentiality agreement where it's a non-disclosure and it's an ex gratia payment. You had to sign it. You weren't given any other choice. It's a gagging order”, Sonia says. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

"They just want it sort of kept hushed, kept quiet,” Michael adds. “I think people need to know what people have to go through.”

The Central Bank meanwhile told the programme that it has not and does not require confidentiality clauses or non-disclosure agreements where an award is made as part of its own Tracker Mortgage Examination.

Watch the concluding episode of Trackers: The People V The Banks, tonight, Monday October 11, at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.