Guidelines on mortgage arrears

Cover image for Guidelines on mortgage arrears_Jan 2010

FLAC has issued a document that offers practical advice and information to people facing mortgage arrears. Simply entitled 'Guidelines on mortgage arrears', the four-page leaflet details issues that may face people who have fallen behind on their payments, such as what is negative equity, what to do when creditors or debt collectors are in constant contact, and where to access legal advice and information.

You can download the leaflet in PDF format (it is also available in Word format on request).

A blast from the past!

On 1 December 2009 FLAC launched its online archive. Starting with a podcast marking FLAC's 40th anniversary, the archive will house audio and video materials around FLAC's work.

Launching the archive at the annual Dave Ellis Memorial Lecture, journalist and broadcaster Colin Murphy pointed out the value of such archives in capturing the voices and images that make up an body like FLAC. Colin produced the podcast and short clips of interviews with FLAC founders, staff and volunteers from across the four decades of its existence.

You can listen to the podcast and clips on the online archive page.

Poor Can't Pay campaign video launched

FLAC is part of the Poor Can't Pay campaign, which is a civil society campaign that believes those earning the minimum wage or living on social welfare are not responsible for the present economic crisis in Ireland.

You can read more on the campaign website where you can also get active in the campaign yourself. With just days left until the budget, it's time to tell Government that cutting welfare payments is not the way to save the country.

And don't forget to pass on the video link!

Queries on debt to FLAC's telephone information line were up 350% in third quarter of 2009 compared to 2008.
FLAC received 7,447 calls to its telephone information line by September 2009.
5.4% of calls to FLAC telephone information line this year are debt related, compared to 1.7% of calls last year.
5.4% of clients to FLAC centres nationwide in 2009 have visited in relation to a debt query, compared to 3.4% in 2008.
22.1% of calls to FLAC telephone information line in 2009 are on family law, compared to 20.7% of calls last year.
31.1% of clients to FLAC centres nationwide in 2009 have visited in relation to a family law query, compared to 31.5% last year.
FLAC has over 600 volunteers giving advice all over the country.
There is a waiting time of 8 months for state civil legal aid in Galway (Sept ’09)
Following the McCann case (June 2009), the Enforcement of Court Orders (Amendment) Act 2009 clarified that judges may compel debtors to attend court for debt enforcement proceedings.
Following the McCann case (June 2009), the Enforcement of Court Orders (Amendment) Act 2009 clarified that only those who have the means, but refuse to pay, will be put in jail.
The UN has called on Ireland to change its laws around debt enforcement three times.
There is a waiting time of 7 months for state civil legal aid in Wicklow, Dublin 1 (Gardiner St.) and Cork (South Mall) (as of Aug ’09)
In a FLAC survey (2006), three-quarters of debtors did not understand the terminology used in court documents to enforce debt.
Calls to MABS helpline Jan-Sep 2008: 7,398. Calls to MABS helpline Jan-Sep 2009: 18,490 (source: www.mabs.ie)
In 2008, some 276 people were imprisoned for non-payment of civil debt in Ireland. In the first half of 2009 the figure was 186 (source: Courts Service).
Ireland is the only country in the EU where it is possible to imprison a person for failing to pay a debt (technically for failure to pay the court order, but still pertains to same debt).
Seventy-two orders for possession of property have been granted to mortgage lenders by the High Court in the first eight weeks of 2010, almost one-third of the number granted for all of 2008.
The number of applications for possession before the High Court has increased from an average of 50 listed per chancery summonses session in early 2009 to an average of 70 later in the year.
The percentage of mortgages more than 90 days in arrears hit 3.3 percent in 2009 - the first time it has exceeded 3 percent since monitoring began in 2004 (source: Moody's).
As of early 2010, the national active caseload for MABS is 30,160 - more than double its total three years ago, when it was 14,707.
At the end of September 2009, there were 791,634 private residential mortgages active with a total value of €118.6 billion.

Dublin: Volunteer for One Family law reform submission 26 Nov '09

Find us on

From our publications

Consumer Credit Directive Consultation

Consumer Credit Directive Consultation

Guidelines on mortgage arrears

A blast from the past!

Poor Can't Pay campaign video launched

Latest News

Current Campaigns

Volunteer News

Find us on

From our publications