Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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95. To ask the Minister for Finance his views that through the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2014, the new owner of the mortgage in the event of it being an unregulated entity would now have to come under the umbrella of Central Bank of Ireland regulation and the same rights and protections would, therefore, be afforded to all mortgage holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10962/15]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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96. To ask the Minister for Finance in the event that mortgage holders whose mortgages are currently held by an unregulated entity believe that the entity is not complying with the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and the consumer protection code the steps open to mortgage holders and the State bodies they may approach to seek to ensure the statutory protections are enforced. [10963/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 96 together.

The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 was published in January 2015 following a commitment by this Government to protect consumers whose loans are sold by regulated financial service providers to unregulated firms. The Bill protects borrowers by requiring the entities dealing with the borrower to be regulated. Dealing with the borrower is credit servicing and the definition of credit servicing is broad. New owners of loan books who deal directly with borrowers, that is, who are servicing their own loan books, will be regulated. Otherwise they can have the loan book serviced by a regulated credit servicing firm.

Where the purchaser of a loan book is not a regulated entity in Ireland, the purchaser may voluntarily apply the Central Bank codes when managing loan books and may have internal complaints procedures in place. In the case of homeowners whose loan is now owned by an unregulated entity, the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (CCMA)  may be applied in the same way that it would be by a regulated lender. The CCMA is designed to support co-operating borrowers and provides extensive protection to customers in difficulty.  It specifies the concrete actions lenders must take in the fair treatment of their customers in order to deal with their mortgage arrears situation as part of a resolution (or MARP) process; it also specifies the series of steps which borrowers need to take in order to engage with their lender.

Of course, voluntary compliance is not enforceable and borrowers do not have access to the Financial Services Ombudsman or the Central Bank about complaints. This is why the Government committed in March 2014 to ensuring that the same protections are available for all consumers whose loans have been sold.

The Government's objective was broadly supported in the Dáil at second stage which was taken in the Dáil on 4th February. As I said during second stage any points raised during the course of the debate will be carefully considered. I also said at that time that,  as is usual, the Government is likely to have some amendments of its own at Committee Stage. Since then, Department of Finance officials have been in contact with the Central Bank and with the Office of the Attorney General to further progress the legislation.

The date for Committee stage has not yet been set.