A PROMINENT housing and homeless charity has called on the Government to involve subprime lenders in the expert group set up to help people in debt or mortgage arrears.
On Thursday, the Government announced the establishment of a group chaired by insolvency accountant Hugh Cooney of BDO Simpson Xavier to help provide solutions for those having problems paying such bills.
Focus Ireland called for “urgent action” to ensure the group includes a representative of subprime lenders – those who lend to individuals who have difficulty obtaining loans elsewhere due to their financial circumstances.
The charity said that 40 per cent of repossession cases coming before the courts are taken by subprime lenders, despite the fact that these lenders account for only 2 per cent of the Irish mortgage market.
The expert group includes representatives from the main banks, the Financial Regulator and others with expertise on mortgages.
Director of advocacy with Focus Ireland, Mike Allen, said: “The Financial Regulator has said that more than one in five of the households in mortgage arrears for three months or more have a mortgage from a subprime lender.”
He said it was obvious that the subprime lenders needed to be at the table as part of the Government expert group so they could help develop “agreed actions” to protect the homeowners most at risk of repossession.