The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

APRIL/MAY 1996

The f o l l ow i ng is a letter received from James Bardon, Director General, The Irish Bankers Federation concerning banking references.

please get in contact with me.

charge in any circumstances. Is there any possibility that we could e v en agree on that?

Yours sincerely,

Yours faithfully,

James

Bardon,

Mr. And r ew F. Smyth, President, Law S o c i e ty of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Status Enquiries System

Director

General,

Richard E.

McDonnell,

The Irish Bankers

Federation,

Richard E McDonnell

& Son,

Nassau

Street,

Market

Square,

Dublin 2.

Ardee, Co. Louth.

The Editor, The

Gazette, Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Building Society Mortgages

The following is a letter which was received by Stanley Siev, Solicitor, from An Post concerning multiple claims. It is published here at Mr Siev's suggestion for the information of the profession.

Dear Mr Smy th

I write to advise you, and through you your members, of the forthcoming c h a n ge in the Status Enquiries S y s t em as operated by banks here. A s you kn ow, banks have for years facilitated enquiries raised by customers of one bank regarding the financial status of customers of another bank. Wh i le this has served the interest of customers and banks alike, the basis for i n v o l v i ng the enquirer's bank and the enquiree's bank has been the subject of review. From 3 0 April 1996, a bank c u s t omer w i s h i ng to process a Status Enquiry about another bank's c u s t omer can address his enquiry directly to that c u s t ome r 's bank. Be f o re proceeding, he must first obtain the written c o n s e nt of the c u s t omer in question, and must then e n c l o se with his enquiry the enquiree bank's fee. A special C o m b i n e d S t a t us E n q u i ry a n d C o n s e nt F o r m is available from all I BF -memb er banks. By eliminating the routing of Status Enquiries the replies through the enquirer's bank, and by requiring the prior c o n s e nt of the c u s t omer about w h om the enquiry is made, the n ew s y s t em will provide for greater e f f i c i e n cy and transparency all round. The charge for a Status Enquiry, n ow inclusive of VAT, remain at the existing level. I h o pe that y ou will be in a position to relay this information to your membership. If you have any queries,

Dear Sir,

Messrs Stanley A Siev Solicitors Ge o r g e 's Chambers 31 Aungier Street Dublin 2

Wh y has the solicitors' profession which is supposed to be skilled in the art of negotiation and, indeed, reputed by certain sections of the media to be avaricious, a l l owed itself without a wh imp er to be manipulated by certain lending a g e n c i es into investigating Title (and e f f e c t i v e ly personally guaranteeing same) and attending to the mountain of paper- work i n v o l v ed in securing their mortgage absolutely free of any charge whatsoever (with the corollary that we are totally e x p o s ed in the event of the slightest f l aw )? Lending a g e n c i es have slyly avoided the prohibition contained in the Building So c i e t i es Act on charging their legal costs to borrowers by the ingenious d e v i ce of getting the borrower's solicitor to do their legal work for free. If an account for services rendered is furnished it will either be ignored or referred to the borrowers for payment wh o, of course, will be aware of the fact that they have no obligation to pay the lenders' solicitors' fees. If the lender is advised that the solicitor is not prepared to do their work free of charge, then the lender is likely to advise the borrower to e n g a ge the services of a solicitor wh o is prepared to work for the lender free of charge. This practice is not g o i ng to end unless the solicitors' profession as wh o le unanimously agree that legal services will not be provided to lending a g e n c i es free of

Re: Your Client - Mr. X

Accident - 3 January, 1996.

Dear Sir

I acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 22nd inst and note contents thereof. Your letter is the eighth letter of claim received in relation to this incident from eight different firms of solicitors. I have been advised that from enquiries carried out there is no An Post vehicle registered 9 5 - D - 3 66 nor do w e have a Postman/Driver named Patrick Do y l e. If you have any further information which would enable me locate the papers I wo u ld be obliged. i Given the number of solicitors involved I cannot deal with this claim until it is established wh o is acting for Mr. X. The other solicitors involved are as follows:- A list of s e v en solicitor a r e set o ut in Mr . S i e v 's letter b u t a re n ot p u b l i s h ed h e r e.

| Please contact these solicitors to sort j who will represent Mr. X.

| Yours faithfully,

Christopher

Cronin,

! Legal

Executive,

An Post.

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