Monthly Archives: July 2011

Banks are ‘cherrypicking’ best mortgage clients

Operations manager with Irish Mortgage Brokers, Karl Deeter said banks will claim they are lending but on the ground it’s an “entirely different story”. “They don’t want to know except where you are a public sector worker or the type of person who banks would always lend to anyway,” he said. “With figures showing that 80% of mortgage applications are being rejected, it puts the banks in the enviable position of being able to cherry-pick only the best applications, declining even cases that fit criteria but are marginal. “This is contrary to giving the taxpayer back a return on our national investment because they need to lend to make profit, but equally, our pillar banks are charging artificially low rates versus the rest of the market, so not only are they cherry-picking but there is an implicit subsidy being paid to those who borrow via taxpayers who fund the banks. It’s a crazy set-up,” he added.

Independent: Forgive them lender

Our thoughts on Debt Forgiveness have been a source of debate and while we accept that there are cons to the idea there are also sound reasons.
The Independent looked at this topic today and mentioned Karl Deeter in the piece

Independent: Struggling investors forced to sell at a loss

Mortgages with a total value of €1.3bn were now in arrears of three months or more. This represents 16pc of its €7.8bn buy-to-let mortgage book — up from 10pc in December. Low rents and difficulties finding tenants mean many buy-to-let investors lost money on their properties, director of Irish Mortgage Brokers Karl Deeter said.

Independent: BOI prospects of credit still low

We were mentioned in the Irish Independent (via our sister company): THE fact that private investors are prepared to put money into Bank of Ireland does not mean the bank will suddenly start lending to house buyers and small businesses, experts said yesterday. Although the investment move was welcomed, fears were expressed that personal and business customers would be hit with higher charges. This was because the bank was still short of funds, director of Irish Mortgage Brokers Karl Deeter warned. And there are fears that variable rate customers will now be hit with hefty rises in rates. Mr Deeter said there would be no immediate flow of credit for house buyers and small firms.

Mortgage Holders hit again as rates pass 6%

Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers said: “This will make it more difficult for those who can borrow to get access to funds. It raises questions about whether the money used to rescue the bank was worth it.”

Sunday Independent: Government must react or face the living dead

In answer, let me quote Irish economist Karl Deeter, who recently said: “I think debt forgiveness is generally a terrible idea, and have only become an advocate as I watched a system evolve whereby investors have been insulated from taking loss at the expense of largely innocent bystanders [taxpayers]. In chasing the crisis down this rabbit hole we have perhaps avoided creating zombie banks, but we are creating zombie households in their wake.”

He continued: “The idea that this is a ‘punishment to the prudent’ [debt forgiveness] is a mistake. If so, then where is the ‘prudent rage’ against people receiving taxpayer-funded Mortgage Interest Supplement, which is paid to more than 18,000 households, while on the same street another person slaves to make their payments?

“Or the ‘prudent backlash’ by people who stayed out of the market entirely, against taxpayer money spent on rent supplement, which allows a person around the corner to enjoy a similar property for free?”

TV3 The Morning Show – Ratings Agencies & Bonds

We were invited onto The Morning Show to talk about ratings agencies, what Ireland’s ‘junk’ rating means and the bond market. Afterwards we held a live personal finance ‘twitter clinic’ where people could ask questions about personal finance.

TV3 The Morning Show with Sybil & Martin, ‘Property Watch’

Once a month we get to talk to Sybil Mulcahy & Marting King on their ‘Propertywatch’ piece. This month we were looking at auctions and ECB rate increases as well as general finance.