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RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR Putin has denied using his dog to scare Angela Merkel.
During a meeting in Sochi in 2007 the German chancellor was photographed looking uncomfortable around Putin’s dog Konni.
Merkel has a fear of dogs and some people claimed Putin used the dog in a “power play”.
The Telegraph reports that at the time Putin said: “The dog does not bother you, does she? She’s a friendly dog and I’m sure she will behave herself.”
Merkel is believed to have replied in Russian: “No, she doesn’t eat journalists after all.”
Yesterday Putin finally shot down the rumours in an interview with German newspaper Bild.
“I did not know anything about [her phobia].
I showed her my dog because I thought she would like it. I told her so later and apologised.
Putin went on to described Merkel as “sincere and highly professional”.
The chancellor has been a vocal critic of Putin, particularly in relation to the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Mortgage with Aib . Never missed one payment . Never saw the benefits of the Celtic Tiger. Always paid d bills before putting food on the table. Bought a house according to my means, would have loved a bigger one but what d hell. So why the sh•t should some people get a part of a loan written off. Bought a mansion for vanity purposes, unfortunately got the loan, now can’t pay for their vanity . Don’t worry a bit, we’ll write off a part of the loan,so u can maintain your cosmetic illusion. The rest of us will struggle to pay for the small sensible purchases we made.
Exactly murph, now I’ll pay mine and who ever can’t afford their recklessness any more. I’ll pay for their medical card too.
Yipe Jason , who’ll listen to us
What do you mean : “I’ll pay for their medical card too?”
Our taxes are paying for 1,2 million medical cards but there aren’t 1,2 million unemployed, so some taxpayers are subsiding health care for people too. Pay for everything, receive nothing, that’s what it’s like for many of us.
I disagreee 110% with you. what do you want for buying within your means, a medal?? i bought within my means, a 3 bed semi, i lost my job and had to rent out my home for the past 5 years to keep making my payments. i have 2 kids that have never seen the house their parents own. its idiots like you and you’re lack of understanding about the complexity of this issue that gets my blood up! i don’t own a bloody mansion, and i’m not a bloody strategic defaulter!
less of your begrudgery, because guess what einstein, thats where my taxes are going too. i’m sick of the “well you got what you deserve, look at me i’m a f*cking hero” brigade!
God love you, carrying the whole place on your back…..
Agreed. Potential for serious inequity here.
Jason
What’s that got to do with 180,000 people that are in mortgage arrears ?!
And I am sure people who never had a mortgage wouldn’t agree with the tax they paid that went to subsidising your mortgage by way of mortgage relief from the revenue office.
Too right Sean, it’s people like them that always say ” I always paid my way, never took anything from the state” blah blah, they fail to realise that pretty much everything in this country is subsidised some what from taxation, private schools get funds, private healthcare operates on public hospital grounds, the roads are maintained from general taxation, as well as their state pension they’ll he happy to take, or the mortgage relief they claimed,all paid for by other people’s taxes, but it’s easier for them to blame someone else and hold themselves up as a model citizen, hypocrisy is what it is.
Those who are able to keep up with their mortgage repayments and gradually to reduce their mortgage principal are fortunate and have much to look forward to.
I have three years to go until my mortgage is paid off. I do not begrudge those who need support and who over borrowed on over priced homes.
We are all in this together. I don’t want to see homeless families and social exclusion. That will create a more expensive problem even if considerations of humanity are ignored.
All that AIB is doing is damage limitation and recognising financial reality.
They should have closed the banks and rearranged the debt in a fair way nobody wants to live on social welfare with medical cards life is a real struggle and everyone is suffering this is just a big mess that no one has the balls to sort out !!
History has its rhythm and a tendency of repeating.
“Moreover, inflation had spread to commodities, and a great rise in prices had followed. Land was especially in demand. Houses, châteaux, and farms sold at three or four times their former value. A property which had brought 700,000 livres a few months before was now sold for over two million. A loaf of bread, usually sold at from one to two sous a pound, now brought three sous. The cost of other provisions had advanced in the same proportion.
A collapse was inevitable, sooner or later; but Law, fascinated by the thing he had set in motion, was lacking in the will to throw on the brakes…
In February, the hoarding of gold or silver was prohibited on severe penalties, and the act was enforced by bounties to informers and summary search and inquisitorial measures. These measures were without effect, and on March 11 the use of gold or silver for the payment of any debt was forbidden. Thus, for a short time, France had the distinction of being the one civilized country where a man could not pay his debts with gold or silver.
To prohibit the use of gold and silver was a departure from the principles on which Law’s bank had been organized; it was not, perhaps, at variance with the theories of a “managed currency” he had frequently announced. He had often argued against the use of the precious metals for currency, because of the fluctuations in their value, and had proposed, in their stead, a currency which would possess no intrinsic value, and of which the quantity would be fixed by the state in accordance with the needs of trade.”
Elgin Earl Groseclose, Money and Man
TheJournal is at its best when there are enlightened, informative and educational comments.
Thank you very mich indeed Sean for that information. I’m inclined to agree with the quoted analysis.
I’m not in arrears ,but paying my mortgage leaves very little for anything else once childcare is also paid . I dread defaulting as I value my perfect credit rating, but it seems those of us who struggle to pay but DO pay will not benefit at all. It seems being in arrears is the way to go !
Pg, at least you are able to meet your mortgage repayments and this means that the principal sum of he mortgage debt gradually reduces and there may be a modest recovery in the market value of your home, you have security of occupation and you will have a valuable and useful asset when your mortgage is entirely repaid for the benefit of your retirement and free to leave to your heirs.
It is a challenge for you, it is difficult and you make sacrifices but you are one of the lucky ones looked at over time and into the future.
Being in arrears is certainly not the way to go.
Thank your blessings and know that the future holds more hope for you than for many others.
Fair play to the taxpayer again! Write-offs in AIB are merely a transfer of a debt from one taxpayer (he/she who gets a write down ) to another taxpayer ( he/she who is paying his/her own mortgage as well!!)
Correct. Strategic defaulters lying on a foreign beach whilst the idiots who are trying hard to pay their debts have to pay theirs also. Banana republic!
Qoute taken from ,Patrick Honohan ( Central Bank Governor), at the Oireachtas Finance Committee..Sept 24th 2013
Mr Honohan has said strategic default is a “phoney concept” and that it is actually a consequence of people prioritising what debts they repay.
It is possible but it is an unproven hypothesis that there may be, not necessarily so, but may be a strategic default by some investors on buy to let’s but there is absolutely no empirical evidence to support the notion of strategic default on principal private residences.
Joey, your analysis is incorrect. There is no displacement of burden.
In a split mortgage, which are extremely challenging to qualify for, the parked element of the debt in written down over time, not immediately, and subject to strict and onerous conditions.
Can’t repay, inability to repay, is its own reality and defence. Reality has to be recognised.
Ha Ha Jonnybannon.
The old “Strategic Defaulter” chestnut.
A term coined by AIB’s boss himself aka David Duffy.
Your company squandered 20 billion of taxpayers money David.
What do you have to say for yourself?
“Look over there!!!”
“A strategic defaulter!!!”
“After him!!!”
I personally know of two families enjoying life that have decided they aren’t paying their mortgage. It was suggested to me 4 years ago by of these lowlifes that I should do the same. A strategic defaulter is a strategic defaulter no matter who coined the phrase.
Who are they Jonny?
The Fitzpatricks and the Drumms?
Whistleblowers are needed in the Banks. I bet there are a few rich people and their families who will get away with a lot more than the people who have no connections in the banks. The people who shared the corporate boxes at concerts and matches will get favourable treatment. It’s human nature. Another tribunal in 10 years time will be needed to see if the banks chased their friends as vigorously as other customers.
Excellent point MindfulIrish but under current law such whistleblowers would be making enormous financial and occupational sacrifices.
Well, it’s a start. Hopefully the foreign owned banks and BOI will follow suit.
Yeah cause everyone loves paying even more in taxes. There is no free money.
Yes , they’ll have to , sooner or later ! Bankruptcy certs are what’s making them move !
We have already given the banks the money to cover mortgage defaults years ago at least now the money is being used by at least AIB.
That’s all forgotten about , Kerry !
Crazy stuff. If the houses had appreciated in value would these people have given the excess back to the lender? Absolutely farcical.
Would they f**k. All this nonsense is straight from the Sean Quinn school of finance. People who didn’t borrow grandiose sums of money, and who continued to rent while the country went mad are being punished.
Kerry that’s not true. Banks have been stress tested against that, correct, but any money we actually spend just adds to our debt burden we will pay for in increased taxation, new levies and charges.
Where do you think this money is coming from?
Gastrophase, Kerry is correct. The Banks were over capitalised so as to address mortgage impairments. There is considerable room to write down mortgage debt as a matter of financial pragmatism. There may not be enough to address the full scale of he ultimate mortgage impairments but Banks will gain by damage limitation in doing these deals in appropriate cases.
The conditions of qualifying for these deals are onerous and it is by no means an easy option for distressed borrowers.
AIB is showing pragmatism and good sense in doing these deals. Don’t worry, Banks are not altruistic. They just want to cut their losses.
Overcapitalised with what exactly? With borrowed money we are and will be repaying…
You guys keep repeating that banks received the funds as if the money was gifted to us somehow. Anything they spend from the earmarked tranche the taxpayer needs to come up with to pay it back.
Over capitalised with bail out funding which reflected the fact the Irish banks over lent on over valued residential property hyped up by the banks.
Sadly, we have to recognise financial reality. Many mortgages cannot ever and never ever will be fully repaid.
The tax payers elected and reelected a dysfunctional and irresponsible series of FF led Governments which in 1999 neutered a proper system of prudential supervision of the Banks and lending institution, revoked legislation in 2004 mandating the Irish banks to control the supply of credit in the national interest and unleashed the Banks to do their damage. Most mortgagors are innocent victims of a reckless and greedy financial system.
Although I voted against FF twice, I a, a citizen and tax payer, part of an electorate who kept putting back in FF led coalitions to do their irresponsible damage.
Yes, the taxpayer is caught but the fact is that the taxpayer is already caught as a result of the Bank guarantees, euro membership legal obligations and inept government. The damage was done when the excessive loans were extended in he first place. What is now happening is merely a recognition and an unavoidable recognition of financial reality. There is no alternative. We are addressing the consequences of irresponsible government and a prudential regulatory vacuum.
Which only confirms what I said. It’s just another transfer from the taxpayer and the more is spent the more needs to be raised.
Spot on Peter.
The sycophantic corrupt/criminal “professional” overpaid bankers lent out so much money (that they didn’t have) to people (that they knew fine and well could not pay it back), that all of them (bar none)
bust their institutions,
bust the entire country,
and sentenced generations of Irish people to eternal debt slavery.
The hundreds of thousands of unfortunate families in mortgage distress are just a side effect of this heinous criminality.
Personally I have not met one person who is bitter towards their neighbors because they were unfortunate to buy a home with a mortgage at the peak of the boom,
nor have I met a person who would object to a family having an un-payable portion of their mortgage written off.
These bogeymen “Strategic Defaulters” and ‘Non-Cooperative Borrowers” were contrived out of nowhere by bankers and their lapdogs within our media.
A lame ploy to try to get neighbor fighting against neighbor as the real culprits within the banks,government,senior civil service, building/accountancy/legal industry walk away scott free with big payouts.
You get AIB’s (20 billion black hole) and Ulster Bank’s (15 Billion and counting black hole) bosses throwing out the “Stategic Defaulter/Non-Cooperative” BS
yet when they are asked for hard statistics and facts they cannot produce any.
Pathetic spin from pathetic sad people.
Gatheringyiurmoney, I agree with each and every point that you make. It takes a very narrow, blinkered and unrealistic view to oppose mortgage debt reduction.
Bonus culture, kick backs, property professionals, media, politicians and so called “regulators” all in cahoots to make residential homes into speculative commodities.
Opponents of mortgage debt reduction deals always ignore the fundamental causes. They hate to see other people obtain practical and sensible deals but they never suggest alternative and viable solutions.
The Banks have to redress their appalling ant criminally reckless level of irresponsibility and bonus driven greed.
There was €7 billion given to the banks to deal with the issue of mortgage arrears …For six years they kept their heads in the sand, hoping that property prices will rise and that their books would improve ..
They now realise that the borrowers have a bit of more ‘power’ as in the new bankruptcy process ..
Also , it is not too easy to take possession of a family home ..
This is a statement from Edmond Honohan ( Master of The High Court) given during the week !
Mr Honohan said the rights of borrowers were enhanced in the Land and Conveyancing Reform Bill 2013, which forces banks to examine alternatives to repossession. However, many judges, let alone struggling mortgage owners, are unaware of the changes.
Fair play to the guys who got the write down as they obviously educated themselves to the truth. Anyone who thinks they are scroungers needs to get there heads out of there conditioned asses and wake up..write downs happening everywhere so go ask for one and stop being told what to do
And never get a loan again, never upgrade the car or get the kids to university….
They wouldn’t get a write down if the bank knew it could take the house and sell it for more than what is owed , the houses wouldn’t have cost so much only the banks made the money available to easy , they loaned to much money to developers ,who got permission from the local authorities to build all the unnecessary houses , so then they gave loans to people to buy the houses that they gave the developer the money to build , and the stamp duty went you know where , all these people paid mortgage protection , but that was quickly canceled and money handed back because that would have protected the homeowner and closed the crooked banks , it’s much bigger than a few people getting a few euro of their debt , and it happened all over the world , banks fecked up ,simple as , not the man that was convinced to take more than he needed , and that is what happened say what yous want , if it had been admitted in the very beginning it could have been sorted .
As we the all bailed out the banks to the tune of 179 Billions, who drove the price of houses through the roof with cheap credit all mortgage holders should get a 25% write down on their outstanding mortgage.
This would be fair and equitable and punish the banks for rash lending practices.
It would help kick start the economy and be far more beneficial
The resentment and anger from those who are just about managing to keep up their mortgage repayments is understand but not well founded.
These debt attenuation deals are a recognition of financial reality and are a compensating readjustment to addresses the systemic over lending by the Banks which inflated the residential property market and encouraged people to take on unaffordable debts levels and addressing changed financial circumstances.
Even fro. The Bank’s perspective in many cases cutting these deals is a damage limitation exercise and a recognition that you can’t get blood out of a stone.
These are very difficult deals to achieve and there has to be a genuine financial case. The deals do not cover trophy homes or situations in which the borrowers are living an excessive lifestyle.
Ultimately it is a matter not just of practical finance but whether or not you wish to see families disposed of their homes which they have paid far too much fir in the first place and where there own equity investment, if any, has been wiped out.
The cost to the State of rehousing disposed families would be too great. Better that as many people be kept in their homes as possible. The price of not keeping people in their homes Is homelessness, destitution, social exclusion and irrecoverable debt.
The private rented sector would not have the capacity to house the disposed and the social housing list is under too much pressure to address the existing demand never mind the additional strain of large numbers of disposed owners.
We are talking about hard and practical reality. None of the distressed borrowers want to be in this terrible predicament. Split mortgages do not involve the immediate and unconditional forgiveness of the debt. Write down takes place over time and subject to very strict performance conditions.
This is just the start of a very long and painstaking process. It will be gruelling on the unfortunate borrowers and it is by no means an easy option.
This is a positive development and hopefully we will see both pragmatism and humanity in the approach taken. It will avoid a small fortune in legal cots being expended on mortgage possession suits.
Lucky gits il still have to pay full whack for mine tho. Oh ya because I took out the loan, why should I expect others to bail me out. I’m in massive negative equity but that’s my fault for being a moron and buying the kip
Always keep an open line of communication with the bank ,they pushed up the prices , they know this , but why would they lower the mortgage if they think these people will bail us out and still pay the same mortgage as well , let them know its tough to pay it , it will be a long time till it would be near what you paid for it I’m guessing , if more people contacted the banks and the personal insolvency people the government would have to tackle the problem or Europe would not be happy
I lost my job in America , I had just bought my house for $427,000 , I cashed in my pension and paid my mortgage for two years using that and what I could earn from part time work , I couldn’t get a job but to pay the mortgage , I asked the bank for a short sale , similar to a write down , I put house on market and sell it for most can be got for it , after been on the market for over a year the bank offered me the house at fair market value ,$280,000 , unfortunately I knew I didnt have a job so no matter how good the deal I had to pass on it , I sold the house eventually 2 years after I vacated the property fro $275,000 , bank wrote off the balance remaining on the house ,thank god . But ,I had paid the mortgage for 7 years total ,$294,000 in payments , but I still owed the bank $401,600 after paying all that with the interest ,bank sold it for $275,000 in theory , but that $275000 over another thirty years is closer to 1.25million with interest , the banks don’t loose , ever , and here they are paid off using tax payers bail out ,and the mortgage holders pay them again ,and interest earnings aswell ,come on people open your eyes. Now $35,000 in propert taxes was also in the $294,000 but they still made out very well , and all the houses we live in will keep on been remortgaged for many decades to go ,banks again ,see.
The borrowers backs were up against a brick wall
T’ill along came their advocate ,a certain Mr. David Hall
Now AIB have started to write off big lumps of debt
KBC and others will follow now that’s a sure bet
For too long things were moving at a crawl if not at all
Uncoolio
Isnt it as much an unemployment problem as a debt problem
Many people myself included..were working away meeting all our commitments..when our worlds collapsed with a loss of employment in a bankrupt economy..All we want is a little help until our situations improve..All this talk of stragetic defaulters is only a bluff ..a smokescreen,in the same way that all of us who worked and paid taxes before unemployment are seen by some as bums and welfare scroungers.
Remember the 250,00 who joined the dole queue didnt do so by choice..and there but for the grace of god go you!
Irish banks are facing major problems ahead!
The Germans want interest rates to increase by 2 or 3 per cent.
On a tracker mortgage of €300,000 repayments would increase by up to €9,000 per annum!
The German Regional Landesbanks are in even more serious difficulty than the Irish banks and the German Central Bank has been influencing the German influenced ECB to hold back increases on the ECB base rate.
Some Germans want an increase in saving interest rates but such increases could destabilise the German financial system.
There is a very good reason why he Germans sacrificed Ireland in order to prevent contagion.
Many of the German property lenders are Emperors without clothes.
I don’t think that David Hall should be so quick to blab to be honest. You have no idea of what mitigating circumstances may have been at play and now there is a real risk of people defaulting on purpose which may land them in trouble in the future.
Whilst it’s great that the IMHO is there to help people, I think it’s a bit irresponsible to scream or from the rooftops. Only last week he was complaining that BOI wouldn’t engage with him – I can kinda see why to be honest.
Dara, David Hall is trying to create awareness, light of fuse for more of these deals and squeeze Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, EBS and others into cutting similar deals.
A sensible start has been made but there is a veritable mountain of these cases to deal with in the next two to three years. It’s a truly massive and systemic problem.
I’m aware of the size of the problem and the glacier like Speed with which it has been tackled but I still believe that this is not the best way to go about it.
BOI are not likely to deal with him if they think he’s going to broadcast sensitive information.
I’m aware you have a different opinion and that’s fine, not arguing, just giving my two cents.
It’s hard to believe that people still have respect for banks, if they want my house take it. If I don’t pay my mortgage my house will still be standing there is more chance the bank will collapse. If 50% of people out there either withdrew their savings and delayed paying their mortgage we wouldn’t be long finding out how needy the banks are and how much they would be willing to help us in their own best interested. I’m not paying full amount off my mortgage each week I’m saving up half it so when I go in looking for a bail out at least I have some cash to try and get my mortgage down a bit, and I will laugh in the face of any manager who tries to take moral high rd while still having their hands in my and children and grandchildren’s pocket. There is a reason why both aib and boi shares are worth fcuk all, they still have incompetent criminals who are robbing anyone who lets them.
These people who got their debt written off should have been made to pay their debt, just like the rest of the country. After all the Irish people have bailed the banks out and AIB is going around giving it away AGAIN!!!
Do we know the finer points of these write down agreements??..I just find it hard to believe they write off 150k and that’s that, no bad credit rating, no obligations down the line and full ownership of property, could you sell the property in couple of years if prices rose etc. etc.
How many family homes were repossessed in the last 10 years when the family refused to give up and sell willingly? You may it may not be surprised that NOT A SINGLE property has ever been fully repossessed when the family stood their ground . Yes there have been obviously several hundred repossession orders granted but that’s only half the story . After the order is granted the county registrar has to ENFORCE it and in reality that never happens unless the family give in to their fear and agree to leave. If you are in this predicament pay what you can afford even if it’s just 20% or less and don’t give in, I know of several cases where the repo order was granted up to 4 yrs ago and still not carried out! The Keane report insists that stress testing should have been carried out at the time of drawdown and this one point is scaring the living sh1t out of the banks because the county registrars are using this loophole to avoid the hassle of a full eviction.
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