Madam, - Your Editorial "Bid for First Active" (October 7th) comments on the relentless consolidation in the financial sector. I have a personal interest in the affair since I currently have my mortgage with First Active.
I started with Irish Life Building Society, which sold out to Irish Permanent, which sold out to First Active, which then de-mutualised to become First Active plc. I may now be projecting my stream of hard-earned cash to the Royal Bank of Scotland. I have already paid back five times what I borrowed originally and must continue paying to the new owner.
In 1998 when First Active de-mutualised and free shares were given to mortgage holders, I was working as a volunteer teacher in Africa and had given my address there for statements. On returning in 1999 I claimed my shares, but was told that since I was resident "outside the designated area" I was not entitled to these.
I did not particularly want anything from the greasy till, but this proved my theory that small punters are just irrelevant fodder for the big decision-makers.
One of my objections to being sold off to the new owners is that, as a lifelong republican, I will now be subscribing to a royal institution, the Royal Bank of Scotland.
It seems as if the smiling faces of those takeover teams shown in your newspaper ignore completely the interests and sensibilities of their paying customers.
Should I be surprised? Ordinary people do not gain anything from the crazy, chaotic system of mortgages as a means to secure a place to live and I hope the system will disappear in a future more rational and fairer society.
In the meantime, I live in a "property" with unrealistic equity, unless I choose to take out more loans or go and live in a tent. The only beneficiaries, it seems, are the takeover tycoons playing monopoly games with our hard-earned cash, becoming immensely rich in the process.
The real losers are the increasing numbers of poorly housed and homeless people. - Yours, etc.,
SEAMUS BLAKE, Douglas West, Cork.