Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 March 2015
225. Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for Finance when he expects legislation to protect all mortgage holders, including those of unregulated entities, or so-called vulture funds, to be brought forward; if the legislation will apply retrospectively to mortgage holders, in particular to customers of the liquidated Irish Bank Resolution Corporation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9249/15]
View answerThe Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 was published in January and second stage of the Bill was taken in the Dáil on 4 February. Since then, my officials have been in contact with the Central Bank and with the Office of the Attorney General to further progress the legislation. It remains my intention to ensure that borrowers whose loans are sold by a regulated entity to a currently unregulated entity maintain the same protections as they had prior to the sale. The Bill will continue its progress through the legislative process and I look forward to further discussion of the Bill at Committee Stage.
The legislation is not retrospective. However, it will apply to all loans as defined, regardless of when they were acquired, thus capturing loan books that have already been sold. A similar approach was used in 2013 in relation to debt management firms.
