"How to get rid of an impossible mortgage"

"Banks are not keen to write €200,000 off a home loan or allow owners to sell properties in negative equity but some will do so, writes CONOR POPE"........

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"THE BANKS ARE coming down hard on people who do not repay their loans, but some experts say many of those loans should never have been given in the first place. This means that ultimately the banks will have no choice but to forgive the debt, although they are unlikely to admit that they are doing so.

Examples of boom-time lending practices are emerging now. A quantity surveyor with a salary of €40,000 was given mortgages for five investment properties, the last of which cost six times his salary.

“There were some extraordinary things going on. Someone in this situation should never have been approved for such a level of credit,” says Eamon Curley, a former banker who specialises in helping small investors to sort out their investment problems. He works for small businesses and small-scale property investors.

“The first loan was okay and maybe the second, but the other three were ridiculous. That gives him a chance to negotiate with the bank,” says Curley.".................

This should only be allowed if people are sent to prison.

The example about the Quantity Surveyor who got five mortgages,. .. it should be decided if the banker that issued the loans broke the law. If he did he should be in prison, if he didn't then the law is insufficient.

If the law is insiufficient then it should be changed, and given a compulsory footing.


If the financial regulator didn't do his job he should also be in prison.


Unless and until these people go to prison there should be no more bailouts of dodgy banks, who followed silly policies.

The banks should be allowed to fail now, at this point.