Ms Noeline Blackwell:

Deputy Pearse Doherty has hit on a really important point. The reality is that while these servicers have a job to do, they act as agents of a body which owns the money and which owns the debt. They can make any contract they wish. It is not just a question of the Financial Services Ombudsman either because there are issues that may need to go before the courts and if only the agent is liable and is caught for proper behaviour or regulated behaviour, there is a real worry that a contract could be structured in such a way as to let the entity behind, that is, the owner of the debt, off the hook. With the change of emphasis to the servicer away from the owner of the debt, there is a risk that the terms of the agreement will be structured in such a way to ensure maximum flexibility or least culpability for the owner of the debt in behind. Moreover, the servicers often are behaving to a routine in a way that is not acceptable or satisfactory as far as FLAC is concerned. It is good to know they are regulated, as they need to be, but so too should anybody who is buying that debt. Issues such as existing arrangements with regard to the debt and so on will be very important.