Legislation published to protect mortgages which have been sold on

The government has published the legislation this morning

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 as initiated (in PDF format)

Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 Explanatory Memorandum (in PDF format)

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/bills28/bills/2015/115/b115d-memo.pdf
The activities of credit servicing have been defined to ensure that the entity managing the relevant borrowers’ credit agreements will be have to be regulated.Owners who do not out source credit servicing to anyone The activities will be required to be regulated so that a regulated entity will be responsible for all credit agreements.The effect of the amendments to Section2 8 of the Central Bank Act1997 is to regulate the activity of‘credit servicing’ and the ‘credit servicing firms’ engaged in such activity so that the borrowers retain the protections that they have before a loan book is sold.

I have no idea why they changed from the approach set out in the consultation paper. This appears to work, but it's a very convoluted way of doing it. When legislation is convoluted, then there is a danger that it will be found to be faulty.

I have really no idea what this means, but it seems that enforcing a credit agreement is not regulated?


“(2) For the purposes of this Part ‘credit servicing’ does not include—
(a) the determination of the overall strategy for the management and
administration of a portfolio of credit agreements,
(b) the maintenance of control over key decisions relating to such
portfolio, or
(c) taking such steps as may be necessary for the purposes of—
(i) enabling the undertaking of credit servicing by another person,
or
(ii) enforcing a credit agreement,

whether any action referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) is taken by a
person who holds the legal title to credit in respect of a portfolio of
credit agreements (in this section referred to as the ‘holder’)

or a
person acting on behalf of the holder,

provided that such action,whether taken by the holder or such person, is not taken in a manner that if it were so taken by a regulated financial service provider it would be a breach of any provision of financial services legislation
(within the meaning of the Central Bank Act 1942).”.

In plain English:

Credit servicing does not include enforcing a credit agreement

provided that such enforcing a credit agreement complies with the financial services legislation

Brendan