Article on debt in the Journal.ie

[Mrs Vimes]

Read this article this morning by a Personal Insolvency Practitioner - thought it would be of interest to people here.

He goes through a number of misconceptions people hold around debt - eg "I won't lose my house even if I don't pay the mortgage" (you will, eventually); "the bank actually cares about you at all" (you are just a number, if even); "you can believe a word the bank tell you" (if it's not in writing, it didn't happen).

Bit of a reality-check for people who may have been misled by the bold claims of "victories" certain people on facebook, etc have been making.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

The good part of the article is that he does encourage people to engage with the lender.

The bad part is that he doesn't spell out to people that even if they can't pay their full mortgage, they should pay what they can.

Some borrowers reason as follows

"I can't pay my full mortgage payment.
The banks won't do any deals with people.
I will eventually lose my house.
Therefore I might as well not bother paying anything as I am going to lose my house anyway.
I might get to live in it free for a few years."

The reality is that 100,000 mortgages have been restructured while around 5,000 have lost their homes. In watching 2,000 cases in the Circuit Courts, we have yet to see a case of someone who pays something meaningful and who shows up in court, losing their home. Usually the bank agrees a deal with them. And maybe the bank will keep pursuing them and eventually get an order.

But the lender is much more likely to get an order much sooner if the borrower pays nothing meaningful and doesn't show up in court.

Brendan

 

[Mrs Vimes]

Agreed.

I think there is something wrong with your last sentence? Lender is less likely to get an order.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Thanks, rewritten now.