John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is what I have found. The front page of some but not all of the contracts I have seen has set out the amount of credit advanced; the period of the agreement; the number of repayment instalments; the amount of each instalment; the total amount repayable; the cost of credit in specific terms; the APR which is subsequently defined; the amount of endowment premium, if applicable; the amount of mortgage protection, if there is a premium; the effect on the amount of instalments of 1% and so on, which is specific to one particular case; and the annual percentage rate of charge. If that is not on the contract, according to the legislation, a "mortgage lender who is party to an agreement referred to in subsection (1) shall ensure that the agreement complies with that subsection." The offences against that are set out thereafter. The legislation states the Central Bank will enforce this. My point to Professor Lane is that I have now seen evidence where this was ignored and it seems that it happened across the banks.

Even if it did not happen across the banks, it states that if someone makes a complaint to the Central Bank, the bank is supposed to act because it is the body that provides oversight and enforcement of the Act. That is what I found. It must be difficult for a customer who is supposed to read and understand the front page that, as Professor Lane said, there may be other specific detail hidden in the body of the agreement. I cannot accept that because that is not what the legislation says.