Well I borrowed well within my means but 5 interest rate hikes, a paycut, pension levy and one income tax increase later, things aren’t so rosey. Especially with another interest rate increase coming in October. Then there’s the next budget : ( thank the gods for Lidl!

Well with Noonan promising more cuts and tax increases, mortgage problems can only worsen. It is not just defaults that pose a challenge but as incomes shrink, after mortgage repayments disposable income contracts. Anecdote tag on: I know of three people who have told me that they cannot pay their life insurance every month, meet the mortgage plus meet other standard bills and they are working.

Morgan Kelly suggested two possible solutions. One was debt forgiveness to reduce the amount owed on mortgages where the borrower was in difficulty. The other was to allow house holders to give the house to the bank and walk away – thereby losing any equity they had put into the house and also having then to rent elsewhere. Personally I think the first idea is unfair to householders who pay their mortgages but the second idea is fair. The difference is that in the first case the person gets to keep the house that they can’t afford whereas in the second case, they lose it and need to move somewhere within their means. It would still be a great deal, though, because they would get their life back with no bank breathing down their neck for the rest of their days.

It just isn’t going to happen people !

@ Barry,

If you could be sure it would lead to economic stimulus you’d be on a winner, but there is no certainty of that, just a there was no certainty that grants for refurbishment of houses with insulation weren’t just trousered by the companies doing the job, who may have added the amount of the grant on top of the cost of the work as profit.

There are far better ways of stimulating the economy and the government as shareholder has to start appointing executives to the boards of the Irish banks to ensure they play their required role by supplying liquidity and lending into this economy.

Banks that don’t do this should have their boards swept clean, new executives installed with a firm mandate to help our economy recover.

The proposed drip feed to the less-rich-than-before is an insult to the people who minded their finances prudently but got screwed by the economic downturn that was promoted by the unwise buying strategies of the people the government now says it wants to help.

Will there be a means test for this to see if these people have really tightened their belts, or are we talking households who “simply cannot survive dahlink” on just ONE sun holiday a year?!

I think w should be told before our government cuts the needy and supports the wealthy again.

It’s not debt relief it will be just higher taxes for the rest of us … You bought it you pay for it … Where all ready paying for bad banks

tbh I don’t think "economic stimulus" truly exists let alone works. At the end of the day you will always be taking money from somewhere or someone to put somewhere else, be it taxing people to support businesses or increasing national debt further to do the same thing which may as well amount to the same! However could we agree that any meaningful recovery won’t happen until something is done, no matter how small to reduce negative equity and household debt? Thoughts?

I dont think this government has any balls .in the uk they set the interest rates where every mortgage holder is on an equal footing ,in good oul ireland even when the ecb leaves its rate alone our banks increase rates themselves when it suits them even though the tax payer owns the bloody banks ,we should have done what the uk done kept our soverinty and still have links the uk enjoy to buisness in europe .we should have had a vote on bailing out the banks and instead have paid off all the mortgages in ireland and let all the freed up income spend our way out off the recession

I have very little sympathy for the people who went out and got themselves a variable rate mortgage, then pretended they didn’t know it was going to vary, and now expect you and I to pick up the tab for their mistake.

It needs to be considered as a form of economic stimulus. If they want people to start spending again they have to remove their personal debt burden. However I feel that there would be need to be a fairly comprehensive review on a case by case basis of each persons mortgage application and circumstances at the time of applying for their mortgage. If it can be proven that they mislead the mortgage provider or knowingly were borrowing outside their means then they should receive less of a support. If the bank knowingly encouraged them to do so then the bank ought to face a similar penalty. For those who were responsible and would have been seen to have been in good jobs and had good prospects prior to the complete collapse of the economy then they ought to receive the greatest support. This wouldn’t be the perfect solution and would need tweeking and may be unworkable such would be the admin etc supporting it, but would at least cover to a certain degree the "moral hazard" at the heart of.a complete blanket bailout of mortgage holders!

People built huge houses in expensive areas to keep up with their friends and neighbours. I built a modest house to suit our needs in a rural area. I’ll be fecked if I am going to bail out greedy egits!

This will never happen because it won’t benefit the public sector workers.

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