Homeowner with a Loan to Value of <50% gets a PIA with a 0.5% interest rate fixed for 18 years

[Brendan Burgess]

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/homeowner-60-given-fixed-mortgage-rate-of-0.5pc-for-18-years-under-debt-deal/a/161897133.html

This is an absolute disgrace and explains why we have been paying the highest mortgage rates in the eurozone for most of the last decade or more.

When she applied for the PIA, Ms McEnerney’s mortgage stood at about €133,000 against a house valued at €295,000.

Mr Gannon argued the low interest rate was necessary to ensure Ms McEnerney’s return to solvency based on her income, expenditure and circumstances, and to achieve long-term affordability.

While I am very sorry for her, it's not the duty of the bank or its other mortgage customers, to house her.

If it is government policy that she should not lose her home, then the government should have taken over the mortgage.

Alternatively, the mortgage should have been put on an interest only basis at market rates.

Alternatively, the house should have been sold and the loan cleared.

 

[Fortune]

He also argued the interest rate was profitable to the bank and provided it with a better outcome than bankruptcy would

Where does bankruptcy come into it? The borrower agreed to a legal charge over the property in exchange for the loan. The value of the asset is greater than the value of the loan, so it should be sold to discharge the loan if the borrower cannot meet the payment obligations.