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Business Lending Interest Rate Review

Background to the Business Lending Interest Rate Review

In March 2012, Ulster Bank advised business customers (by letter and press announcement) that it was changing the definition of Cost of Funds, a variable component of the interest rate charged on their accounts, to better reflect the bank’s funding costs.

However, not all customers’ facility documentation allowed for this definition change and therefore should not have had this change applied to their account.  We wrote to all affected customers, other than a small number we were unable to contact to correct our error. It was subsequently identified that the pre 2012 Cost of Funds interest rate used to calculate refunds, and that was charged to impacted customers whose accounts had been remediated, was not rounded down to the nearest one twentieth of one per cent as it should have been. 

This meant that refunds we paid may have been smaller than they should have been and we may have charged too much interest since then.

We started writing to impacted customers in September 2022 to pay further refunds.

We corrected the interest rates for any impacted accounts that were still open on 6 January 2022.

June 2023 - Update

We have remediated all affected customers other than a small number of customers we have been unable to contact. We will continue to try to reach these customers by letter and telephone, but if you think you may have been affected by our errors and have not received a letter from us, please contact our dedicated helpline. Details are outlined in the "Need more information?" section below. 

What Cost of Funds rate applies to my account?

All accounts whose facility documentation states that Cost of Funds is the applicable interest rate are charged the Cost of Funds rate (standard definition) unless we wrote to them as part of the BLIRR to tell them that the pre 2012 rate applied to their account, and they were not subsequently notified that that rate no longer applied.

Please note with effect from 3rd  October  2024, the cost of funds rates have been reduced to 0%

To view the current and historic Cost of Funds rates, click here.

There are three rates detailed:

  •    Cost of Funds rate (standard definition);
  •    Cost of Funds (Pre 2012 Calculation & Definition) rate; and
  •    Cost of Funds (Pre 2012 Calculation & Definition) rounded rate.

Need more information?

Should you require any additional information or support, please contact the Business Lending Interest Rate Review helpline on 1800 719 874 Freephone/Lo-Call from mobiles, or +353 1 531 7180 if calling from abroad.

Lines are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday excluding public holidays. Calls are recorded for training and quality purposes.

Alternatively, you can request a call back here. Our team will do their best to call you back at a time that best suits you. (Please select Business Lending Interest Rate Review as the query type.)

Alternatively, you can write to us at:

Ulster Bank Ireland DAC
Business Lending Interest Rate Review
PO Box 10518
Central Park
Dublin 18

Please note that in any correspondence addressed to us we would ask you quote your account number(s) or any letter reference number if you have one  to assist us in identifying your account(s) and responding in a timely manner.

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