Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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192. To ask the Minister for Finance the options available to a mortgage holder who finds that his or her lending agency disregards the code of conduct on mortgage arrears; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46396/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank has advised that, where a borrower believes that their lender has not complied with or in any way disregarded the Central Bank’s Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears, he/she may make a complaint to their lender. The lender must seek to resolve the borrower’s complaint in line with the complaints handling process set out in provisions 10.7 to 10.12 of the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Code. Each lender must also have an appeals process in place to enable a borrower to appeal in relation to a decision of the lender, including:

- Where an alternative repayment arrangement is offered by a lender and the borrower is not willing to enter into the alternative repayment arrangement;

- Where a lender declines to offer an alternative repayment arrangement to a borrower; and

- Where a lender classifies a borrower as not co-operating.

For this purpose, each lender must establish an Appeals Board to consider and determine any such appeals submitted by borrowers.

If the borrower remains dissatisfied following the outcome from the complaints or appeals process, he/she may then refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman who deals independently with unresolved complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with all financial service providers.