BANKS IN IRELAND were awarded €52.4 million in bad debt judgements against consumers in the first three months of this year.
With the banks winning out in 86 separate cases, the average amount awarded to them was over €600,000.
The data, from analysts Vision-net.ie, shows the overall value of judgements against consumers rose in the first quarter of 2015 compared to this time last year. However the number of judgements has dropped slightly, by 3% compared to the first quarter of last year.
In total, 1,061 judgements with a combined value of €94.5 million were awarded by the courts; 77% of these (816) were made against consumers, while 23% (245) were made against corporate entities.
537 judgements against consumers were awarded to either the Revenue Commissioner or Credit Unions – that’s 66% of the total number of consumer judgements awarded with a combined value of €18.2 million.
“The amounts being pursued against consumers in this first quarter have increased significantly. In value terms, banks feature heavily on the list of plaintiffs, suggesting that financial institutions may be accelerating their efforts to clean up their balance sheets by tackling legacy debts,” commented Christine Cullen, Managing Director of Vision-net.ie.
Though we are clearly well on the road to recovery and growth predictions are improving almost monthly, legacy debt is one of the major challenges our economy must overcome if it is to enjoy long-term stability.
Cullen said these latest judgements suggest the need for a coherent and feasible policy approach to the problem, adding that an expansion of the remit of the Insolvency Service could help address the continuing overhang of consumer and commercial debt.
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