Are the Regulator's mortgage lending guidelines to banks available online anywhere?

I'd appreciate it if anyone could point me to said guidelines. I'm wondering if they are set-in-stone or if they are just 'guidelines'

Hi Michael,

I can't help you with the main thrust of your query as I don't know if the Central Bank guidelines for lenders are published anywhere.

But I do know that the guidelines are only intended to guide how much a lender should extend as a maximum to an applicant. As far as I know the Central Bank does not stipulate that any lender should lend up to a recommended amount for any given applicant.

To put it another way, if a lender decides for its own reasons to use absurdly conservative lending criteria, I don't think the Central Bank would have an issue.

Thanks for the reply. I read the Consumer Protection Code 2012 and it says the regulated entities should be aware of various things including number of dependants, but it's all very vague.

What I'm trying to find out is whether the Regulator has decreed that child benefit must be discounted in it's entirety when assessing income and if a set-in-stone multiplier must be used in relation to dependants regarding minimum net disposable income after mortgage payment . . or is that just left up to the individual bank.

One thing to be very clear on is that the banks are not required to lend to anyone. You may meet all the requirements a bank sets out to be considered for a loan, but the bank may at it's discretion still decide not to grant the loan.

michaelm said:

What I'm trying to find out is whether the Regulator has decreed that child benefit must be discounted in it's entirety when assessing income and if a set-in-stone multiplier must be used in relation to dependants regarding minimum net disposable income after mortgage payment . . or is that just left up to the individual bank.

Click to expand...

In case it is of interest to anyone, I put this query to the Central Bank and they responded (see below) to the effect that it is up to the bank what criteria to apply.
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The decision to lend is a commercial one for the bank concerned, and the Central Bank of Ireland does not lay down specific requirements regarding to whom they are permitted to lend. We do require that before a mortgage or other financial product is offered to a consumer, providers assess the suitability of the product for the consumer concerned (Chapter 5.16 of the Central Bank's [broken link removed]). This includes whether the consumer is likely to be able to meet the financial commitment involved. However, it is up to the bank to decide what criteria it uses to make this assessment.