I agree that it's good to highlight good customer service when appropriate but...
I have a friend dealing with BoI under MARP (very small arrears and has been on interest only repayments for 6 months at a time for the past 18-24 months or so) and while there were no problems dealing with individuals the impression is that BoI is quite bureaucratic and all over the place when dealing with stuff like this. It's never clear who should be contacted about what - branch, mortgage contact, MARP/ASU (Arrears Support Unit) people or the main mortgage organization in the IFSC and they seem very slow to deal with stuff that is sent in. Every time the 6 months interest only comes to an end there is a bit of pfaffing around trying to get it in place again. The person in question has done a lot of work on reducing expenditure, clearing other unsecured debts and generally getting the finances in order but the bottom line is that right now and for the forseeable future they can only afford interest only repayments so the capital balance is not reducing. (In effect they are renting their house or the money used to purchase it albeit for a lot less than they would pay for the same accommodation on the rental market). I'm not sure that BoI are really looking at the broader picture and are happy to just collect the interest indefinitely which means that they lose nothing and in fact probably gain in that the interest charges over the lifetime of the loan will be higher than if capital was being paid down. Maybe that's fair enough but it leaves the lender in limbo. So while the people may be nice to deal with that does not mean that there are potential issues with how the lender is dealing with the overall situation.
