Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 June 2019
55. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if a mortgage holder who enters into a split mortgage arrangement and honours that arrangement in full and who has never missed loan repayments is deemed to have an imperfect credit history as recorded on the Central Credit Register; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24655/19]
View answerThe Central Credit Register (CCR) is established by the Central Bank of Ireland under the Credit Reporting Act 2013 (the Act). Under the Act, lenders are obliged to submit specified personal and credit information on loans to the CCR. Lenders have been submitting information on consumer mortgages since 30 June 2017.
As part of the credit information, the Central Bank has advised that lenders are required to report ‘restructure events’ to the CCR. The modification will be made as a result of either of the following scenarios:
1. The borrower and lender agree to put a restructure in place on the basis that the borrower is currently in arrears or
2. The borrower and lender agree to put a restructure in place on the basis that the borrower is in danger of getting into financial difficulties and/or of going into arrears on their credit agreement.
The lender must report the relevant restructure event from a defined list. ‘Split Mortgage’ is one of the possible restructure events a lender must report and is defined as follows: ‘The credit agreement has been modified to reflect an agreement with the borrower to split the mortgage into two or more separate accounts, with one or more accounts to be serviced and one or more warehoused for a period of time’. The split mortgage will be visible on the relevant mortgage records of that borrower for a period of five years following the initial reporting of the split mortgage restructure.
The Central Credit Register produces credit reports on request for lenders and borrowers. The credit report contains information on each loan, such as the type of loan facility, the amount borrowed, the term, and number of missed payments if any.
If payments are made in accordance with an arrangement entered into with a lender, then the credit report will show that information. The credit report does not contain a score or a grade or comment on the repayment performance. If a borrower has applied for a loan it will be a matter for each lender to consider the application, based on their own credit policy.
