Mr. Brendan Burgess:

Arrears are a complete no-no for five years after the arrears. Mr. McNally made the point that part of the reason he was in arrears was because of the high rates and now because of the arrears he cannot switch. It is really a double whammy. He is a prisoner of Permanent TSB. He is on a low loan-to-value and he has cleared the arrears but no bank will touch his loan. They just look at the Irish Credit Bureau record and if there is a mark that says a person was in arrears within the last five years then that is it and there is no further discussion. The banks do not need to know what a person's income is or why they were in arrears - that is just it.