Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2019
155. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of mortgages affected by the overcharging carried out by a company (details supplied) on mortgages previously owned by a bank; the average amount overcharged; when the overcharging commenced; if property that was being overcharged at the time was repossessed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4945/19]
View answerThe Central Bank of Ireland advises that it is not aware of an overcharging issue in relation to the entity referred to by the Deputy. However, the Bank has also indicated that if the Deputy has any relevant information which he wishes to bring directly to its attention, it will consider such information in the context of its supervisory activity.
On the other hand, if the Deputy is referring to the practice of automatic arrears capitalisation (which is the methodology used by some lenders to recalculate a borrower's contracted monthly instalment on a mortgage following a trigger event such as an interest rate change), the Central Bank has indicated that:-
- such a matter is not an overcharging issue;
- the issue is not systemic in Ireland;
- the Central Bank has checked to see if any lender operating in the Irish market had been applying the practice of automatic arrears capitalisation (and where the practice was identified, the Central Bank intervened to ensure that it ceases);
- the Central Bank found no evidence that repossessions had occurred as a result of the practice of automatic arrears capitalisation.
