HUNDREDS of Bank of Ireland customers who saw tracker rate mortgages hiked are considering legal action.

It comes after the Bank of Ireland and its Bristol and West division advised some customers they would be raising their margin over the Bank of England base rate.

Although it primarily affected landlords, many residential mortgage holders have been affected.

Now two groups, Landlord Action and Property118.com, are looking into possible legal action.

Director Justin Selig said it has obtained expert opinion that such an action would have good chance of success.

Mortgage holders are incensed because they believed they were on lifetime tracker mortgages paying a fixed margin over the base rate, which has been at a record low of 0.5% for the past four years.

Landlord Action said almost 300 mortgage holders who have lost out from the bank's move have shown an interest in joining a potential mass legal action.