Professor Philip Lane:

In our inspections of the credit servicing firms we do not see a general issue in terms of failing to comply with the codes of conduct. That is what we are finding. For people who are suffering from having distressed debt, the wider framework has many supports for individuals. Perhaps negotiating the situation is not entirely obvious for those people, but the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, Abhaile and the Insolvency Service of Ireland are available and I would advocate that anyone in this situation should try to avail of those supports. The codes of conduct and the consumer protection framework is what we can deliver on. In some cases there will be the prospect of restructuring.

In other cases the insolvency service can be effective while in other cases, which I hope would be a last resort, whether through voluntary surrender or through the court's system, there will be repossessions. All of that does not change no matter who owns the loans.