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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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An insolvency board for an insolvent people in an insolvent country. About time. 5 or 6 years late. But, about time.
Pity they have no powers worth talking about.
Wait till register is online, website will crash with the number of people looking to see who is on it!
“Start afresh” – Hah! Good one!
Go to the UK people!
Imagine by go to the UK you are advising ho to the UK and apply for bankruptcy.
It is not automatic that such applicant ions will be approved, the courts will need to be satisfied (basically) that your income has been earned there and/ or your main residence is there.
If not no bankruptcy. A number have already been turned down e.g. Quinn
Afaik you have to satisfy the UK authority that the UK is now you main centre of interest. So you need to sever all social ties with your locality. By that I mean, cancel golf club, gym or football memberships. Move to and apply for jobs in the UK 3 -6 months prior to application.
Yep, it’s a difficult process, yet still significantly more attractive than this (from the point of view of a bankrupt home owner anyway).
Another day, another quango.
Are you for real? The service is there to help struggling people to get back on their feet.
Honestly, some people are never happy. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.
Been through the site – looks pretty toothless to me.
I was waiting up all night for the next riveting Kathleen Lynch story. But hey, thank god it’s dole day. I’l be pissed by lunchtime and back in time to check out the journal’s lead story later on. My inside sources tell me it’s – 13 ways to recycle your own excrement.
Looking forward to that one.
Niall, remember its workers like us who are paying for you dole so have a bit of respect.
Sarcasm goes straight over your head Denise. Let me spell it out….I’m not on the dole. I don’t owe you anything, nor you me. Despite your obvious mindset.
Sarcasm is generally denoted by vocal inflections . The link below will help you understand what sarcasm is and how best to represent it in written text so there is no room for misunderstand in what you are trying to say, and what tone of voice is being used. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
Brillo. Thanks for link. But the best sarcasm is when you’re taking the piss out of someone and they don’t know it in the first place. Irish style.
Totally agree with you Niall.
Get an address in the UK, simply better than any insolvency rubbish.
I doubt this will work anytime soon. Only thing people can do if they can afford to is pay 30% of their net income on all mortgages etc and sit back and wait and see what the bank does.A judge should see this as fair but then again it is Ireland. If the judicial.system is bought up by the banks then take the first plane out of the country if you can and get settled up in a more civilised regime.
Looked at the list of pips on the website only about 5 counties covered what are the rest to do.
Head to the UK and get it dealt with in 12 months instead of the bank holding onto you for 20 years in case you granny dies and leaves you the few bob from under the mattress
more PIPs will be added to the register in the coming weeks.
Let’s give this service a chance before we condemn it out of hand. It is, after all, only its frst day.
Time will tell whether it works or not.
How long dose it take to get up and running? They can arrange the property tax in the space of 3 to 4 months and yet this is opened now as a half arsed effort to calm the people in distress, another quango going nowhere .
Listening to someone this morning talking about this on the radio. Apparently there are only 37 Practitioners to advocate for people covering 16 counties at the moment. There may be an upfront fee to these practitioners. It seems there is no guarantee that the banks will engage with this. Another Irish solution to an Irish problem and we all know where that got us in the past.
Just listened to the news. Will cost between 4000-7000 in fees upfront. Insolvency will not work if you only owe money to one bank. Most banks have already said they will not engage with pips, it will still be cheaper for them to continue going after the debtor themselves. I don’t know many homeowners that are insolvent who have 7 grand lying around for fees.
I have grave misgivings about this insolvency method. There are too many downsides. The primary creditor, the mortgagee, has a right of veto. I would be extremely wary about going this route.
Day one: in the diary room big brother speaks to Sean dinner property developer…..
Take this to your Personal Insolvency Practitioner and have an A1 day.
have your say