Homeowners whose mortgages have been bought by so-called "vulture funds" protested outside Leinster House yesterday calling for planned legislation to regulate such funds to be expedited and to be retrospective.
The protestors had mortgages with Irish Nationwide, which passed them on to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC). However, as part of its liquidation process, the IBRC has sold on almost 13,000 of these mortgages – both performing and in arrears – to KPMG who have in turn sold them on to Mars Capital Ireland Ltd and Shoreline Residential Ltd. More former Irish Nationwide mortgages are due to be sold on later this year.
These organisations are not regulated by the Irish Central Bank, and homeowners fear they may increase interest rates and move swiftly to repossess their homes if they are in arrears or if they fall into arrears.
A spokesman for Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, said he is due to introduce protective legislation for mortgage holders whose loans are sold on and it will apply to all mortgages, regardless of when they were sold on.
