Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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629. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will address the growing hardship faced by families in County Mayo and across Ireland whose mortgages have been sold to vulture funds; if he is aware that there are mortgage holders paying between 6.8% up to 8.5% interest on these loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41070/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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630. To ask the Minister for Finance the measures being considered to support families affected by high-interest loans sold to vulture funds; if the long-term financial impact of such loans is being investigated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41071/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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631. To ask the Minister for Finance if vulture funds will be required to disclose the purchase price of these mortgages and justify the interest rates being charged; if access to mortgage switching schemes will be expanded for borrowers who are meeting their repayment obligations; if targeted relief or refinancing options will be introduced for individuals and families caught in this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41074/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 629, 630 and 631 together.

The European Central Bank (ECB) increased interest rates over the course of 2022 and 2023 as it moved to combat excess price inflation. However, from mid-2024 the ECB has progressively reduced its main official lending rate to its current level of 2.15%.

While interest rate changes by the ECB generally have a direct impact on tracker mortgage rates, reductions by the ECB are only one factor that feeds into the commercial decisions made by creditors in relation to other lending rates. Other factors include the cost of wholesale and retail funds, risk levels, contractual terms, creditor status, operational costs, and market competition. As a result, mortgage interest rates can vary across creditors and customers.

Central Bank data indicates that average retail mortgage interest rates have declined over the past year. The most recent available data, which is for the end of March, indicates that the average interest rate on outstanding mortgages held by banks was 3.50%, down from 3.67% a year earlier.

For the non-bank sector, the average was 4.00% down over half a percent from 4.51% a year earlier. For those entities in the non-bank sector which do not engage in new lending, the average was 4.57% down almost one percent from 5.55% a year earlier.

The reduction in average interest rates on mortgages held by regulated entities is welcome and it is expected that mortgage creditors will continue to keep their lending rates under review.

In relation to measures to support households, mortgage interest tax credit is available to assist eligible households who experienced an increase in mortgage interest in recent years.

The Central Bank consumer protection framework seeks to ensure that all regulated entities are transparent and fair in all their dealings with borrowers and that borrowers are protected from the beginning to the end of the mortgage life cycle, including in the areas of mortgage switching and the adjustment of interest rates.

In relation to mortgage switching, the industry has put in place measures to assist customers including the provision of an aligned industry-wide set of initial eligibility criteria to facilitate switching mortgages from a non-bank to a bank; and a website, entitled 'it's in your interest', to further encourage and assist the mortgage switching process. As part of this initiative, certain lenders agreed initial eligibility criteria to assist borrowers who wished to switch their mortgage from a non-bank to a bank.

A creditor has the general right to assign or sell its entitlements and rights under a credit agreement or a portfolio of agreements to another entity. The price paid for such a transaction is a commercial matter for the relevant parties.

It should be noted that such a transaction does not alter the terms of the underlying credit contracts and the person who acquires the creditor’s benefits under those agreements cannot stand in any better position vis-à-vis the borrower than the original creditor would have done.