Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Ulster Bank

3:50 pm

Mr. Jim Brown:

The unsecured amount. Two thirds of unsecured debt is bank debt anyway, but we would say it could be written off. If the Chairman looks at our economic concession of 0.5%, for example, then the €200,000 mortgage would only be €1,000 a year in payments. Even if one put a bit of principal on it, the figure might reach €2,000 or €3,000. We think it is far better to keep the person in his or her home, write off some or all of the unsecured debt and, as we have outlined here, put a solution in place that will resolve the issue. Therefore, one does not need to write down any of the mortgage debt and the customer does not need to lose his or her home.