Vol. 503 No. 6
73 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the instructions, if any, he has issued to local authorities to ensure that repayments of a local authority housing loan are not continued after the loan has been cleared in view of the case highlighted in the 1998 Report of the Ombudsman; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10820/99]
Following a complaint to the Ombudsman regarding overpayments on a number of local authority housing loans my Department requested local authorities to identify any cases of overpayments on mature housing loans; take appropriate action to ensure that any overpayments on paid up mature loans are refunded; where appropriate, alert borrowers to contact their paying bank with instructions to terminate their standing orders; adopt appropriate procedures to ensure that overpayments of paid up loans do not occur in the future.
My Department also consulted with the Local Government Computer Services Board whose housing loans system is used by most local authorities. As a result, the board is assisting local authorities in preventing any reoccurrence of the problem. The board has issued a new reporting programme which will identify when a transaction occurs on a paid up account and, in addition, the board has held a number of training courses on the housing loans system throughout the country to advise local authority staff of procedures designed to prevent overpayments. Those local authorities who do not use the board's system have also been requested by the Department to ensure that their system incorporates a facility to clearly identify paid up loans.
