SIX HUNDRED NEW home repossession cases have come before the Master of the High Court in under two months. The Master, Edmund Honohan, is responsible for preparing preliminary cases for hearing.
He said that most of those 600 involved loan defaults of over a year or more, and that a pattern appeared to be emerging in which arrears average about 10% of the original loan.
The number of people defaulting on their mortgage has doubled in the past year, and homeowners are unlikely to find repayments any easier if interest rates go up at their bank next month.
Mr Honohan said he would conduct a survey of the 600 new cases and publish his findings later this year. He said that borrowers don’t seem to realise that they don’t have to repay appears before re-commencing monthly payments on their loans.
They could spread the cost of their arrears over the period of their loan, or after the loan had been repaid, depending on negotiations with the lender.
The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) advises anyone who is worried about making repayments on loans to contact their lender as soon as possible to discuss the situation. The organisation says that there is a 12-month period between the first instance of mortgage arrears and the time the lender can seek to start repossession proceedings.
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