Results 7,001-7,020 of 26,897 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Permanent TSB and AIB (9 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: One way to deal with this is that the banks should have to follow a code of conduct similar to that used for mortgage arrears. Given what the witnesses have said, which is the reasonable approach whereby someone who is paying the rent should be kept and should not be told to get out, is there any way that AIB could adopt this approach voluntarily and tell its receivers to act accordingly?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Permanent TSB and AIB (9 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is where the nub of the issue may be. In a situation where rents are rising and where property values are rising, a receiver seeking the best value for the bank may well decide that the person is only paying €1,100 and the receiver can get €1,500, so it is better value for the bank to kick the person out and get in new tenants who can pay more. The people who will be the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Permanent TSB and AIB (9 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will follow it closely. I appreciate the clarification. Can I ask about the unemployed, people who have very low incomes or who are dependent on social welfare? Is AIB offering them solutions that do not involve handing over the house, if that is what they want to do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Permanent TSB and AIB (9 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is fairly general. One could draw from that response that if somebody is out of work and solely dependent on social welfare, what he or she can afford is pretty limited.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Permanent TSB and AIB (9 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On the mortgage to rent solution, AIB states it has offered 300 of them. Are people looking for a mortgage to rent solution, particularly those who are unemployed or on low incomes and so on? What is the level of interest in this solution? It seems it is the best last resort option for many of those on low incomes who do not know when they might get back into employment. Also, could AIB...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (9 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I accept the committee is bound by its Standing Orders and is not allowed to second-guess the Ombudsman or the courts, which is reasonable. My understanding of this case is that the person has a lot of evidence that his good name has been taken. That seems to have been acknowledged in the report of the Ombudsman. I am baffled by the case and the fact that quite senior politicians seem to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the witnesses for appearing before the committee. There are 3,400 repossessions and legal actions of one sort or another in the pipeline. Can the witnesses assure us that Bank of Ireland is actively trying to give people in those cases every option besides having their homes taken off them? Will the witnesses tell us a bit about how Bank of Ireland interacts with the group of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Bank of Ireland re-engages with the customers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Oddly enough, and perhaps running counter to my instincts and impulses and some of the questioning, I actually believe the banks. It is not in their interests to repossess people and they are under a great deal of pressure. Mr. Mason mentioned that Bank of Ireland reaches some arrangement in nine out of ten cases. What about the one to which it cannot offer a solution, even if that is what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What kind of person is that? These are people who are trying to make an arrangement with Bank of Ireland but for whom it does not believe there is a solution, having examined their situations. Is that what is happening?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: At that point the bank moves to get their houses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Why would mortgage-to-rent not be an option? I presume we are discussing people who are on low incomes or have lost their jobs and are dependent on social welfare. Would Bank of Ireland offer people in such situations a mortgage-to-rent option? Why would they refuse it, why might it not be suitable or what might be the problem?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is something we could consider.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is much that is thrown at the banks that we should be the ones considering. I do not approve of some of the banks' actions, but they have been given the power to do them and are probably behaving rationally from their own point of view. The criteria for mortgage-to-rent solutions might rule some people out, at which time Bank of Ireland moves towards repossession.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: From what the witnesses have told me, I am angry about what appears to be their approach to residual debt. Using the previous example of someone who has lost a job or is on a low income, took out a mortgage in good faith, is a victim of the economic collapse, has a family and so on, if that person is forced to give the bank his or her family home, which is an awful thing to have to do for an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am asking the witnesses in all honesty. I will not give the banks credit, but I acknowledge that, in my experience, they have not been moving for wholesale repossessions. This is not particularly because they are nice, but because it would not be in their interests. Where someone has no option and is forced to give up the family home because there is no sustainable solution available, it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is extraordinary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let us take a person who has lost a job and as a result does not have the capacity to do a deal with the bank. The bank then moves to repossess the home. It knows that the person has no money and will be struggling to put a roof over his or her head, yet it still proposes to initiate legal proceedings to try to get blood out of a stone.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does Mr. Boucher not believe that is cruel and vindictive?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I put it to Mr. Boucher that it is unbelievably cruel that the bank chases people who have lost everything for money that it knows they do not have. What is its purpose in doing that when it knows it will be unable to get any money from the people concerned? What is the purpose in taking to court a person whose only income is from social welfare benefits and trying to get from him or her,...