Burton: Pensioners fear they will lose homes

THOUSANDS of pensioners are living in fear of vulture funds repossessing their homes, figures secured by Labour deputy Joan Burton reveal.

The results of a Central Bank survey, commissioned after a series of requests from Ms

Burton, also reveal that one in six pensioners with a mortgage is in trouble with the bank.

The figures show that there are 23,165 pensioners over the age of 70 who still have mortgages with the five main retail banks – Bank of Ireland, AIB, Ulster Bank, Permanent TSB and KBC.

Ms Burton said: ‘2,243 of those loans are in arrears, which is an arrears rate of 9%. A further 1,726 mortgages are on an interest-only basis, which means that effectively 17.1% of mortgages held by those over 70 years old are not being repaid, or no capital is being repaid.’

The figures also reveal that 2,532 pensioners have mortgages of more than €250,000, whilst 7,824 are carrying mortgages of between €100,000 and €250,000.

Ms Burton added: ‘There is little to no social provision for older people in this situation, so if the banks chose to act in an aggressive manner, and older people lost their homes, it would be a social catastrophe.

‘We do not know how many mortgages of older people are in the hands of investment funds and vulture funds and we do not know how these funds will treat older people who are in arrears.’

She also said it was the responsibility of the Finance Minister and the Central Bank to ensure that older people are protected from the threat of eviction.