A WOMAN from Wexford who owed mortgage arrears of more than €40,000 has criticised a lender for giving her a 30-year loan when she was 49 years old.
The High Court heard Stepstone Mortgage Funding Ltd provided the Wexford woman, now 52, with a mortgage for her home in Gorey in July 2007. She fell into arrears in October 2007 and now owed more than €40,000.
Representing herself in court, the divorced mother of three told Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne she had sought free legal aid and was promised an appointment with the Legal Aid Board within the next six months.
Ms Justice Dunne said the six-month wait for legal aid was “unsatisfactory”. The woman may not have any legal defence in the proceedings and the time elapsed may not benefit her in the long run, the judge said. But she agreed to adjourn the case until July and advised the woman to tell the Legal Aid Board of the new date “to see if they could progress matters”.
Outside the court, the woman, clutching a set of rosary beads, said the lender had to be accountable for giving her a 30-year mortgage at the age of 49.
She said it was not until she visited the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) that she realised the lender hadn’t made a proper assessment of her ability to pay. She was going to “let it go”, but had joined an online group called “Blank of Ireland” for people who want to take radical action, and realised “they couldn’t throw everyone out on the street”.
In a separate case at the same court yesterday, Start Mortgages Ltd was given an order of possession for a home bought under a local authority tenant purchase scheme.
A couple had borrowed €200,000 in July 2007 to buy their home in Dundalk, Co Louth, under the scheme from Louth County Council. They had four children between them, some now adults, and were both now unemployed. They had fallen behind with repayments in 2008.
Ms Justice Dunne said it appeared the couple had made “genuine efforts”, but they were going nowhere in dealing with the overall debt. She granted the order with a stay, or delay of execution, for six months.
In another case, a woman with arrears of €107,000 on her family home told the court her husband had been dealing with matters, but was now serving six months in prison. She had not yet sought help from the Legal Aid Board because she was “very upset with everything going on”, but she would apply.
The judge said her circumstances were “more than a little unusual” and agreed to adjourn the case until July so the woman could seek further advice.
