Results 7,201-7,220 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Some of them were complying voluntarily.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Now they will have to comply under the law.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The owner can only make arrangements with the credit servicing firms in line with the code of conduct for mortgage arrears as laid down by the Central Bank.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: That would be the situation if we were not enacting this Bill, but there are clear guidelines on the role of the owner set out in section 1(f) of the Bill before us, which are being supplemented with amendment No. 20.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: It is clear from section 1(f) that the owner is constrained in what he may do. All credit servicing firms will follow the same regulations. On the issue of owners based outside Ireland, I have a note, which I read. Relevant Irish financial services law, including the Consumer Protection Code 2012, the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and the Consumer Credit Act 1995, applies to the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: What I was pointing out when I mentioned the EU and the EEA was that there are absolute reciprocal arrangements on regulation if a firm is within the EU. Deputy Peadar Tóibín said that in effect I had changed tack. I have changed tack. I changed tack precisely for the reason the Deputy has outlined. The reciprocal arrangements would not apply if it was a Canadian-based owner....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: We are not talking about general regulation here. Let us go back to first principles. The purpose of this Bill is to extend to portfolios of loans that have been purchased the same code of conduct for mortgage arrears that is now applied by the Central Bank to the banks and building societies that we have been familiar with over the years. That is the regulatory space.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The code sets down many conditions to do with contact with mortgage holders, etc., with which the Deputy will be familiar. At all times, under Irish contract law, the mortgage itself, which remains subject to the laws of Ireland, and the credit servicing firm will be regulated by the Central Bank. We are not interfering with that.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: At all times, under Irish contract law, the mortgage itself will remain subject to the laws of Ireland, outside this legislation.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Yes, normal contract law applies. Our objective is to extend the protection of the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, which the Central Bank has applied to the generality of mortgages, to the new situation that arises when mortgage books are sold to unregulated entities.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: That is correct, subject to the qualifications I outlined. If the owner decides to be his own credit service provider, he is caught then. He is in a different space.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: My parliamentary colleagues in all parties argued me out of this when we were processing the Bill. This is where we started. There is a better solution now.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy is going over the same ground again. I cannot really deal with specific cases.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The Deputy made many points before coming to that question. I will deal with that as well. I cannot deal with the specific cases that the Deputy has drawn to my attention because I just do not know the facts. I cannot reply to them. The Central Bank has set out, in protocols and regulations, a particular code of conduct for dealing with mortgage arrears. Of the 750,000 mortgages in the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The person can ask the mortgage provider whom the loan book has been sold to. I do not see where the difficulty arises.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The purpose of the legislation is to ensure that everybody who has mortgage arrears and is being communicated with, through an agent or otherwise, by the owners of that mortgage has the same protection as all of the people who, up to now, have been regulated by the Central Bank and the terms of the code of conduct for mortgage arrears. That is the purpose of it. The purpose is not to give a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Borrowers need to know who they are dealing with, namely, the credit servicing firm and they will know that because that is who will send them letters or other forms of communication. There are later amendments on naming owners and we can talk about that issue when we get to those amendments.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: I move amendment No. 3:In page 3, line 27, to delete "person" and substitute "creditor". Amendments Nos. 5, 8 and 9 are also in my name. I do not propose to accept amendment No. 7. Amendment No. 3 and the first part of amendment No. 5 are technical in nature and deal with the definition of the term "creditor". The amendments are intended to ensure the Bill covers only credit as issued by...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: Let us consider first principles. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure the protection a home owner had before his or her mortgage was sold is restored fully, no more or no less. If someone has lost protection through a sale transaction from a regulated to an unregulated entity, this legislation will restore the status quo. There is no weakening of the regulatory provision. As we have...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (27 May 2015)

Michael Noonan: The purpose of the Bill is as stated. It is not as I or the Deputy sees it.