Mortgage issue timeline needed, says Howlin

WEXFORD Deputy and Labour leader Brendan Howlin said the thousands of bank customers affected by the tracker mortgage scandal should be given a clear timeline as to when the issue will be fixed and they’ll be compensated.

Deputy Howlin raised the issue with the Taoiseach during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil last week.

‘We now know that the behaviour of the banks, which the Taoiseach quite rightly described as scandalous, has impacted 13,000 customers.

‘These are real people with real lives that have been damaged, whose houses and apartments have been repossessed, including 23 families that have been put out of their homes,’ said Deputy Howlin.

‘To make matters worse, we’ve also heard warnings from the Financial Regulator that there may still be some mortgage holders out there who do not know they’ve been affected, as two banks have not yet have identified all the customers caught up in this scandal..

‘In other words, that 13,000 figure is expected to rise.’ Deputy Howlin said it beggars belief that we are now over two years since the Central Bank began its enforcement investigation, and only a quarter of those affected customers have received any redress. ‘The Central Bank has said that it wants all banks to start compensating people by the end of the year, but only three have done so to date. It is time for the banks that have failed to take any action to be named and shamed. ‘This is simply unacceptable, especially when we see the level of real harm done to thousands of people who have been ripped off, and families who have lost their homes.

‘What we need now is a clear and definitive timeline as to when affected borrowers will get their money back. It goes without saying that we also need a timeline as to when all those affected willactually be identified,’ he said. Last week, Wexford man Thomas Ryan was among those who told an Oireachtas Finance Committee about their experiences at the hands of the banks.