Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Borrower engagement with a bank, including the local branch, is very important in dealing with mortgage arrears. I am informed by the Central Bank that under the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, CCMA, lenders must establish a centralised, dedicated and adequately staffed arrears support unit, ASU, to manage cases under the mortgage arrears resolution process. It is the responsibility of the lender's arrears support unit to carry out certain functions under the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. For example, the lender must pass the completed standard financial statement to its arrears support unit immediately on receipt and provide a copy of the standard financial statement to the borrower; a completed standard financial statement must be assessed in a timely manner by the lender's arrears support unit; a lender's arrears support unit must formally review the borrower's case, including the standard financial statement, immediately where a borrower ceases to adhere to the terms of an alternative repayment arrangement; and a lender must allow the borrower a reasonable period of time to consider submitting an appeal to the appeals board, which must be at least 20 business days from the date of notification of the decision of the lender's arrears support unit.

The code of conduct on mortgage arrears also requires that each branch or office in the case of a lender who does not operate a branch network must have at least one person with specific responsibility for dealing with arrears and pre-arrears cases and for liaising with the lender's dedicated arrears support unit in respect of these cases. Therefore, while the code of conduct on mortgage arrears requires that a lender's arrears support unit, as opposed to the branch, is charged with managing cases under the mortgage arrears resolution process, the code of conduct on mortgage arrears does not preclude a borrower from liaising with the lender's arrears support unit through the branch staff member with specific responsibility for dealing with arrears and pre-arrears cases and for liaising with the lender's dedicated arrears support unit in respect of these cases.

See this speech in context