T305 Questions and Answers

We wrote to some of our customers because we made an error on their Finance and Leasing account.

When we sent some customers their credit agreement for signing, we did not use the repayment amount we quoted to these customers, instead we used a repayment based on a higher interest rate. This resulted in higher charges and repayment amounts than these customers would have expected. We have fixed our error and refunded affected customers.

We made sure to refund customers first to ensure the error was corrected as quickly as possible. 

The issue affects some business customers who signed a credit agreement on Finance and Leasing Loan, Lease and Hire Purchase products between May 2020 and October 2023.

We have refunded the extra interest we charged customers directly to their AIB account, or by cheque. Where the account is still open, we have also reduced any future repayment amounts and corrected the interest rate applicable to their account.

If the original interest expense gave rise to or will give rise to a tax deduction (for example, as a business expense), then the refund may be taxable. This will depend on particular circumstances. Customers should consult their tax advisor. 

If the refund related to a Lease account, affected customers were sent a credit note detailing the VAT refunded. This VAT may be due to Revenue.

In this case, we refunded a joint AIB account. Where the customers do not share a joint AIB account, we sent a cheque to everyone listed as the customer on the credit agreement.

The information reported to the Central Credit Register was incorrect in some cases. If a customer’s CCR record has been affected, the letter says so.

Where possible, we have corrected the CCR records of these customers for the time period of this error. However, if a customer thinks our error may have caused other lenders to refuse them credit during this time period, they should contact us on 0818 303 571.

The customer will need to give us written information from the lender that credit was refused because of CCR.  If we refused a customer credit, they can call us and we’ll look into it.  

A customer can go online at www.centralcreditregister.ie or can phone 1890 100 050. Customers can request their credit report at any time free of charge (subject to fair usage).

Yes, we have told the Central Bank of Ireland. We have kept them up to date about everything we are doing to put this right for our customers.