I should suggest before bankers judge us, we might be allowed to judge them. And it looks like many of them will be found wanting. Many investment bankers in particular are venal, greedy and completely amoral (if not dishonest) and none of the profligate and arrogant examples in this island have yet been brought to book, made to reimburse losses or been brought before the courts in the several worst cases which have been alluded to by reporters elsewhere.

I went through this very same process, and what was infuriating for me was the fact they wouldn’t deal with me whatsoever until I couldn’t afford to pay any longer, even though we’re being told every day to be proactive about dealing with our banks. At the same time however its necessary that they maintain certain pressure on people. If someone is in debt they can’t expect it to be a cake ride whether or not they have genuine circumstances. If it was, then as night follows day, others who are not genuine would be getting off lightly and again the tax payer picks up the bill. So does the taxpayer want to pick up these bills too? Thats a question we will have to ask ourselves I’m sure in the near future. What if a family couldn’t afford to pay any more than half there mortgage per month, but were on say the €140 UPC package. Is the bank right to ask about this and request the move to a less luxurious package?? I think so, but I’m sure many may differ….

More results of the 2008 bank bailout!
If these banks had been allowed to collapse they would not be around now to bully people nor would the contracts for the obscene bonuses and payouts been honoured. One can not be blamed for wondering where financial support for election campaigns came from!

The banks will have to be stood up to. They have learned nothing from the experiences of the last few years. They remain committed to their profit margins and do not care one iota for the people of this country. They pay lip service to us but do nothing to relieve the burden on ordinary people. I have my own experience of both MBNA, TSB, HSBC banks all calling me up within minutes of a payment deadline passing. They are arrogant and aggressive – which is designed to intimidate the borrower into finding some absurd manner to take money from your kids education or welfare in order to satisfy their bottom line. We are a passive people – but the day will come when someone is pushed too far – and I have no sympathy for any multi-millionaire banking executive for how the people of this country might react.

I think there may be more to this story than meets the eye..
You can work out alternative payments with the bank.. They’re only gonna get nasty with you if you have lots of spending but you aren’t paying the mortgage.. I know plenty of people who have been laid off in the past few years who have managed to keep paying their mortgages, and bills, because they budget and prioritise..
On the flipside, a good friend works in mortgage collections, and she told me that the people she is calling haven’t paid in years but manage to take a couple of overseas holidays per year and spend extortionate amounts on non essentials (as shown by their bank accounts).

The boom created a culture of hedonism that encouraged people to serve their wants over their needs.. If it offends them then perhaps they should look at their spending and what’s actually important..

But yes, the bankers should be held up to the exact same amount of scrutiny as the mortgage holders..
It’s only fair..

The banks need some type of yardstick to measure peoples ability to repay. Given the taxpayer keeps them in their jobs, it should be the average wage of a banker. Anyone earning less should not have to repay their mortgage if in difficulty. Blue sky thinking for a blue generation

it’s us that should be judging them after all is it not the taxpayer who is paying for their losses and therefore their jobs? these people are so arrogant and pigheaded that none of what has happened in the last few years has even sunk in. tossers.

And yet when a small group of people try to be pro active and protest agaimst these clowns they come in for a lot of criticism on this very site! Go figure,…

2 points:

I have a mortgage which I am struggling to pay. Iv cut all I can cut from my out goings and dreading the budget in December. Who’s to blame. Well I am. I took out the mortgage and another loan for the house. I’m not going blaming the bank.

2. A friend of mine was been hassled by her bank about a loan she had. She basically went in and told them what she could afford and if that wasn’t enough she couldn pay the loan. They accepted her offer. Most banks will want to get something than nothing.

How many of those receiving a loan from a bank were told that the money was not taken from that already on deposit, but conjured up out of nowhere using the fractional reserve system? How many are left under the false assumption that they are borrowing money someone else has put on deposit? Oh, and how many borrowers are allowed to conjure money out of nowhere to pay back these fraudsters? Banks are, from their very core, criminal enterprises given the colour of law. They are in no position to judge anyone.

oh and how many people got sick during all this well i did and my husband had to give up a gud job and go on carers which is fuck all we are on interest only and it has to be reviewed every year and i had some bitch on the phone last week telling us that we were spending too much money on food and i having two teenage boys can they really get away with that

we must realise that the banks want to deal with individuals on an individual basis. You can threaten and control people much more effectively by isolating them. everyone must move to group up and actively take on the state funded banks head on. These people know they can threaten an anxious person easily, let’s calm down and group up.

Groups like New Beginning, have the correct idea. use them. don’t go it alone. after last nights Frontline, glad to see the citizens sorting this out. politicians are part of the problem, don’t expect them to provide the solution.

I thought at this stage that Fianna Gael and Labour would have stood up to the banks and the Troika and told them that they were elected by the people and anything that the previous Government signed up to should now be null and void and a new deal entered into. But they are all the same and don’t give a damn about the people of this country. None of the election promises have been kept, the Seanad is still there as are the quangos with the party cronies put into them, big salaries are still in place and nothing will be changed. Something has to give and after the budget in December…….well I don’t think people, especially PAYE people, will be able to take it any more. There is only so much people can give! It’s time Enda and Co. listened to the people of Ireland and I don’t mean the well-off (a lot of names come to mind but I can’t mention them)

its very hard to calm down when they are down someones back all the time and yeah we all know that politicians are the PROBLEM

One of the examples which made me cynical about the banks is the blatantly unequal way they treat individuals according to whim, but in opposition to logic. At one time I was with AIB, always in credit and having my meagre pittance of a wage paid directly into my account by the employer, after PAYE. So the bank informs me it is going to charge me for the transaction. This being at the same time as they were dishing out bucketfuls of money to Charlie Haughey (and, no doubt, his pals) which they never recovered, I suppose.
Needless to say I removed my money from AIB and went up the road to another bank which did not charge me to pay in my own money.
AIB sucks.
(Of course, if I look like becoming the next Taoiseach, I might decide to become an AIB customer again!!)

Bankers, I am one of those behind and showed them my expenses and i only have 95,000 left on my mortgage, i stopped all direct payments as i was paying more to bank for late payments and insufficient funds, could have been up to 90 euro a week , i call in with my laser card when i can and thats all one can do, i did go down to bank with my keys and told my kids we were moving to car as i could not take the pressure and phone calls, and buying a pack of frozen chips in lidle for 2euro and making it work for a week , give what u can give they wont say no,,, the banks need you, you dont need the bank,, stand up for oneself, or like i go on the housing list,,, the government dont want that , and i told them i would sleep outside housing office in car, i dont ask for nothing for nothing, worked all my life till a year ago, so dont say i am lazy, i get about 10 straight out no, not hiring daily, but i hold my head up and keep trying, and a huge thanks to St Vincent DePaul, for helping me with food vouchures and making life more bearable, dont ever let bankers dictate we are all trying to get ahead, they are the ones who did wrong and still getting paid , and getting bonuses, hold your head up and tell bankers where to go, we are all human but they think a debtor is lower class to call and hound on phone,, i tell them my interest has you in a job, piss off, and thats that

I would really like to see real issues tackled and not patched up:
Education: Unconditional free access for all Citizens – FG have continued to narrow the access to Third level by reducing 3rd level grants and changing access criteria to eliminate others from grant access all together.
Healthcare: Why do we still have a two Tier Healthcare system in Ireland. It has been debated for 30 years. Can we not all have a single Social Contribution of say €20 a week deducted – this would pay for access to GP, Prescription MedicatiIon and Hospital care to all Citizens – Free for Life!
There is no will for change in the FG government. Masses of houses unused that could benefit those in need on the Social Housing list – Is this not Government led Speculation that maybe house prices will increase again at some point in the future?
There is also a general unwillingness to tackle the court system and to change laws.
We have no laws for prosecting Fingleton and Fitzpatrick – even though every sensible person in the country knows that laws have been broken – pensions have been wiped out homes have been lost families and lives have been devestated for the next 20 years – what is it going to take for the government to have some self esteem and lead this proud people?
I like this article – I like any format where we can continue the debate.
But lets see some action.

Irrespective of laws on the Statute Book, many of the fine upstanding bank officials broke every rule in their own “Prudential Rules ” book. There has been widespread reckless lending of other peoples money and cover ups when it all started to go pear-shaped. I am certain laws have been broken. If noboby has been brought to book yet it has to be due to incompetence by those responsible for policing and prosecuting the bankers, rather than the possibility that these bankers are lily-white, pure-as-the-driven-snow models of moral probity.
Which the public know perfectly well a number of them are certainly not.