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THE INSOLVENCY SERVICE of Ireland (ISI) will open its doors this morning to allow thousands of struggling borrowers to start afresh.
The statutory body was established in March this year but says it will be in a position to accept applications from this morning.
About 80 staff members, based at offices in Dublin 8, are expecting to be busy.
According to a report in yesterday’s Sunday Independent, up to 4,500 people have already contacted the ISI and a flood of applications have been predicted.
Ross Maguire, a barrister and member of New Beginnings (a group advocating for distressed borrowers), believes the service will work but it will take time.
He told TheJournal.ie that the number of people getting in contact with the ISE will “swell” in the coming months.
“People will meet with Personal Insolvency Practitioners (PIPs) but that is not a commitment,” he noted. “It is just to explain the procedures and let people know what they are facing.”
On entering an insolvency arrangement, people will be given the protection of the courts from their creditors for a period of three months. During that time, PIPs will work on proposals that should be deemed satisfactory to both the borrower and the creditor.
“In the UK, over 94 per cent of these arrangements are accepted even though they involve write-down,” he said.
A note of advice? “People may be scare about it but they should take their time and look at it. Meet with real PIPs and get a sense of what is involved – both the good bits and the pitfalls. Don’t just read the newspapers with conflicting viewpoints from commentators.”
There will be a mix of homeowners, small business owners and ‘amateur landlords’ expected at the ISI doors over the coming six months.
Maguire says that there are probably 250,000 people in Ireland insolvent at the moment.
He says that many are insolvent because they purchased family homes at inflated prices and after five years of recession, those same people have seen their wages reduced dramatically – and in some cases eliminated.
“They are further burdened by increased taxes and charges levied in the course of austerity measures adopted by government.”
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Can I have my money back now
It’s like’…..burning your furniture – to keep warm!
Why are PwC saying this instead of IBRC and NAMA?
As property prices start to rise nama , ibrc start to dump property
Can someone explain why?
Dumping loans philip, not property. They’re Dumping the loans as they’re non-performing and want to get them off the balance sheet.
If they had the patience, they’d put arrangements in place to allow the properties to return to positive equity and then seek a sale, this recouping more of the tax payers money.
Unfortunately, they’ll sell the loans for a discount and allow the new purchasers to do this and net a tidy profit.
The article outlines that IBRC (IBROKE would probably be a better name) will offload € 15 billion in loans.
Yet the linked article tells us that IBROKE have already offloaded 90% of its loanbook, € 19.8 billion out of € 21.7 billion leaving just € 1.9 billion on hand.
This can only mean, if the previous article is correct, that it is NAMA that is offloading the majority of the loans.
Why the subterfuge?
Why make people think that this is some kind of joint enterprise when it is NAMA that is leading the charge?
Have the shiny suit brigade from the canal something to hide?
Given their obsession with secrecy it would not surprise me if they have, perhaps selling the loans to some preferred customer with an inside track at a serious discount.
The way things go it will all be wrapped up before we know anything, plus ça change.
Who in their right mind would buy this junk?
It might only be worth 30% of face value but if you buy it for 20% it’s a good deal. For the buyer anyway.
@ Irish Revolution
The Banks?
Hedge funds bought it. They will now sell off all the ghost estates etc at a lower price so people that have houses for sale at the min will eventually have to sell for half or take them off the market.
Fab house here in drogheda asking price €325. Hilarious. You could now nearly get a house for that on raglan road or ailsbury road!! So that house is realistically worth less than €150 really.
People and notions ha
What about Bank of Scotland selling on my mortgage & others in their Irish portfolio to a company called Tanager Ltd.
I’m in a tizzy all day because I don’t know what it means for us.
have your say