Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Contract law has not offended the many people we have discussed so far in their interest. In the general mortgage sphere under the code of conduct, there are many mortgage holders who have had a disastrous experience. Let me give an example. A couple who are pensioners from my home town of Navan have a mortgage with one of the banks that are covered but had a disastrous experience over the past three or four years. Their relationship with the bank has been managed by a call centre, as such. It is not as if there is an individual managing the relationship. A member of staff might look at the computer today and read the last paragraph of the file to determine the relationship between the bank and mortgage holder, and then ring the latter with that shallow information. He or she might then either impart information, which could be wrong, or collect information, which could be wrong, or cause confusion. In the example in question, the family engaged with the mortgage company for three years and was literally given incorrect information. It seems as if this was on purpose at times and that at times boxes were being ticked just to move the family along the process to meet the eventual objective of the bank, which was to dispossess the family or repossess the house. Once the family complained to the Financial Services Ombudsman, the bank began the legal process, which stopped the ombudsman's office from actually being able to deal with the issue. As the Minister knows, the powers of the ombudsman's office are as weak as possibly could be with regard to upholding the rights of citizens.

That is the motivation for a normal bank functioning in Ireland. We know the motivation of the vulture funds is very different. These firms want to profit fast. In other words, they are not in it for the longer term or for a relationship over the years. They select portfolios of vulnerable individuals on purpose to determine whether they can repossess quickly. There is no doubt that these individuals are more likely than the existing banks to ride roughshod over the process. Therefore, the objective should be to ensure they are captured also.

Does the Minister believe the mortgage holder should know who owns his mortgage?