Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Finance the actions he will take to ensure that mortgage holders who are in distress who are proactively engaging with banks to resolve their problems receive a fair outcome. [4691/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank's Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (the CCMA) is a statutory Code issued under Section 117 of the Central Bank Act 1989 and lenders are required to comply with the CCMA as a matter of law.

The CCMA sets out requirements for mortgage lenders dealing with borrowers facing or in arrears on a mortgage which is secured on a primary home and provides a strong consumer protection framework to ensure that borrowers struggling to keep up mortgage repayments are treated in a fair and transparent manner by their lender, and that long term resolution is sought by lenders with each of their borrowers.

The CCMA sets out the framework that lenders must use when dealing with borrowers in mortgage arrearsor in pre-arrears. This framework is known as the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) which sets set out the steps which lenders must follow:

Step 1: Communicate with borrower;

Step 2: Gather financial information;

Step 3: Assess the borrower's circumstances; and

Step 4: Propose a resolution.

The CCMA provides an integrated and cohesive package of consumer protection measures and it seeks to deliver on the following principles, to:

- ensure appropriate resolution of each borrower's arrears situation;

- ensure that lenders deal with borrowers in a fair and transparent manner;

- support and facilitate meaningful engagement between lenders and borrowers; and 

- ensure borrower awareness of the benefits of co-operating with their lender, and the consequences of not co-operating.

The Central Bank has advised that, where a borrower believes that their lender has not complied with or in any way disregarded the 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:

1. Where an alternative repayment arrangement is offered by a lender and the borrower is not willing to enter into the alternative repayment arrangement;
2. Where a lender declines to offer an alternative repayment arrangement to a borrower; and
3. Where a lender classifies a borrower as not co-operating.