Feb 12, 2010 - 10:58

Mortgage arrears: Should the state and banks accept liability?

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A new report on debt in Irish Society recommends that the Government should consider introducing a mortgage to shared equity scheme similar to Scotland. Where a person is struggling to repay their mortgage or are at risk of losing their home to repossession the scheme would enable the state or a bank to take a financial stake ... in the home. This would allow the homeowner to reduce their own monthly repayments to a manageable level as the stakeholder would pay a proportion of the repayments to the lender.

The report entitled, "High Levels of Indebtedness in Irish Society" by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs highlights the need for providing alternatives to repossession and also said, "Where lending has been reckless, all responsibility should not rest with the borrower but liability should be proportioned to the financial institutions and, if necessary, the broker that arranged the loan".

According to The Financial Regulator there are roughly 791,000 residential mortgages outstanding in Ireland and 26,271 mortgages in arrears of 90 days or more.

Have our say - Mortgage arrears;

Should an equity-sharing scheme be introduced to help struggling homeowners?
Should the state and financial institutions accept a proportioned liability for Mortgage arrears?