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Updated 9.25pm
A CUSTOMER WITH Permanent TSB has been advised to sell her house despite the fact that she has been keeping up with an agreed payment plan has an arrears balance of less than €200.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Helen*said that she “went into panic mode” when she was first told by the bank that she should sell her house, which she has been paying the mortgage on for ten years.
The mother of three has been on an interest-only payment plan with PTSB for about three years, as her retail business suffered in the recession. She is now only taking in a third of what she used to before the economic downturn but said that her landlord has been reasonable and though she struggled with bills, she has never missed a payment.
Her case was reassessed when she submitted her Standard Financial Statement recently which included details of her accounts from 2012 and earlier this month Helen received a phonecall from the bank to inform her that she no “no longer fit the criteria” for the plan as her income showed no signs of improvement.
“I’ve been paying my bills, I live frugally, I don’t go on holidays or buy clothes or entertain in my house,” she said. “I was told they wanted me to pay an extra €300 a month and I told the guy there were things like life insurance I could reduce and maybe come up with another €150 a month but they weren’t interested in striking up a deal, they just said I don’t meet the criteria”.
Five days after the phonecall, Helen received this letter:
(Image: The Hub Ireland/Facebook. If you have trouble viewing this, click here)
The letter says that the bank understand “the stress that this recommendation may cause”.
However, in light of the level of repayments you can currently afford, we believe this is the best option for you. Selling your property will enable you to use the proceeds of your sale to clear your outstanding arrears and repay, or significantly reduce, your mortgage balance.
It then goes on to list a number of conditions if Helen were to sign up to this agreement including an obligation to submit all offers to purchase to the bank and a commitment to selling the house within six months.
Grief and stress
“I didn’t sleep for more than two weeks, I’ve had to start taking sleeping tablets because I’m up at 6am every day for work,” Helen said. “I was just burning up with the grief and stress.”
“I’ve never defaulted on my payments, I’ve always paid my bills at the agreed level so to be told now that I don’t fit the criteria – I just don’t understand”.
Helen has a 20 year mortgage and had paid off ten years before she got into financial trouble. The house was originally bought for €152,000 and is now currently worth about €150,000.
“I think I’m being targeted because they know what I could get for the house and now I’ve brought my mortgage balance down to €80,000,” she said. “They want to put me out of my family home, I’m just devastated.”
‘Sound reasons’
In a statement issued to TheJournal.ie, a PTSB spokesperson said that while the bank cannot comment on individual cases, “there are sound reasons why a proposal like this might be made to a customer who apears to have a low arrears balance”.
A proposal such as this is only made after carefully reviewing the customer’s financial position and outlook, based on information the customer has provided. The apparently low arrears balance almost always reflects the fact that payments have been paused or reduced for a sustained period of time, by agreement, but that the mortgage is incapable of being serviced on a realistic basis in the future. Ultimately early action by the customer may be in their best financial interest in the longer term. Alternatively, if additional information not currently known to us is made available we will always review our recommendation.
Helen sought advice from organisations like Debt Options and The Hub Ireland after receiving the letter and has now filed a plenary summons in the High Court to have her case reviewed.
“They’re not taking my house off me – I raised three children on my own as a single mother, I’ve been ill for the past two years, I’ve been through a lot and I won’t let this happen,” Helen added.
*The customer’s name has been changed in the story to protect her identity.
First published 1.03pm
The current strategy isn’t working. It may seem like compassion, but the rest of us have rights too.
Its not fair to the rest of society that in Dublin the board walk along the Liffey and the O’Connell Street area are dangerous during the day and virtually no go areas at night.
@Fiasco99: If you think that part of town is dangerous, bring your Mommy next time.
@Fiasco99: no go areas? Slight overreaction there surely?
@Val Miggin: honestly, have you been in these areas? Particularly late on a week night when there are few pub goers and especially if it’s a dry night as many of the users choose not to go to a hostel.
It’s not a good place to be. I would not like a family member to be there.
The Gardai choose not to carry out policing here, I assume because it’s pointless bringing the drug users to court for yet another suspended sentence.
Methadone is just a park and containment strategy effectively giving addicts a free heroin substitute. It does nothing to address addiction. It’s obviously been adopted as policy as it is relatively inexpensive and somewhat effective in achieving its limited goals but it offers no real hope to those afflicted most of whom will be on it for the remainder of their shortened lives.
Methadone makes too much money for the health professionals and big pharma , it is the golden cow. It is ten times more addictive than heroin, they do not want to rock the boat.
@Mr Jerry Curtin: Twit.
methadone….I always feel it’s a bit like a cigarette smoker switching to just pipe / or cigar smoking-
@Frank Dubogovik: More like switching from Major to Silk Cut.
Far better to have mandatory residential centres to assist drug addicts get off their addiction
@Stephen Kearon: are you serious !?
@Cathal: sounds like a winner to me.
@Stephen Kearon:
I see your advertising your British poppy again Stephen, any chance Micheal Martin or any one in FF is going to be seen dead wearing one?
I think we need to work on the homeless situation and the issues with the health service . If people really wanted to get of drugs they would .
And trust me I know .
@Greg: really? Is there a magic pill or potion. Utter BS
I was employed as a counsellor for many years in a large methadone clinic in Dublin. Its not true that service users are excluded from a treatment plan . I personally know Doctors ,Counsellors , Nurses, Pharmacists and General assistants who put in many hours encouraging users to take part in treatment programmes. Doctors are very willing to reduce and end Methadone treatment. If the Service users are willing to take an active part in reduction programme’s ,which are available to all Service users. Lynn’s article is not correct in many respects . In order for Doctors or Pharmacists to dispense Methadone they have to carry out specialist intensive training . And the majority of community based Doctors do not have any inclination to do this training , as they do not want to work with those who are abusing drugs. Over the years that I worked in the clinic I saw Gran parents , Parents Daughters and Son’s all from the same family attending for Methadone treatment. For many , addiction passes down through the generations. There are very few programmes or interventions for Young Children to stop them going down the same road as their Parents and Gran Parents. I have also known many S.U who having come off all drugs including Methadone . Relapse because they have to go back and live on the streets or into Hostels that are nothing more than drug den’s with a bed for the night . I think Lynn Ruane would be better employed trying to do something about homelessness and lack of service’s for the Children I mention here. Rather than taking a cheap shot at the Staff in the clinics who are doing their best to provide a good service, under what are often very difficult circumstances.
“service users” watch out for that one.its what they’re calling prisoners now too.
It seems to me methadone sacrifices the individual drug user and their family. It is given to reduce offending and theft etc in cheapest way regardless of if it consigns the drug user into another dependency stupor. Individuals and their children etc deserve the chance to be drug free. Ultimately this will benefit society with functioning individuals and families who can contribute to society. Invest the money into counselling and residential services aimed at getting people drug free not invest in maintenance programmes that lock people into addiction substituting one drug for another
The central issue you highlight is the conceit of doctors, the so called ‘experts’ and how the political establishment is in thrall to their ‘expertise’. Methadone can be a life saver and is for many but many doctors believe that the best that can be achieved is to turn drug users into professional patients but above all also is their belief that they know best when in truth many have minimal understanding of drug users and addiction.
@Liam Hunter: Utter nonsense. You clearly dont know how this operates with individual clients. Maybe ask a GP in a practice that prescribes it.
@Margate: you have no idea how much I know about this..way back before even the protocols… As for ‘utter nonsense’…some of us have profound understanding of this issue going back as far as the eighties…where does yours emanate from ?
Short termism and quick fixes is what our political system and can kicking… the methadone programme is a case and point.
It’s a good time to raise the question Lynn, you may need to take this further in your position as Senator so that the policy is reviewed and recommendations dealt with before another 20 years passes. Good work but more steps are required other than an article in the Journal.
The major issues are policing of clinics , addict goes in to try come off hard drugs and are met on the way out by dealers peddling drugs/tablets . The fact that the clinical staff will not entertain addicts looking to reduce their dose isn’t a surprise when you see the monetary incentive to keep addicts on their books.
It’s a cash cow for doctors administering methadone to addicts.
I look forward to your night in Donore Youth Centrethis coming month. As someone who was involved in Treatment service development in the 90′s in Dublin. It sickening me to my stomach that successive govs pay millions for mrthadone. There’s no stomach by this gov or agencies to setup up a programme that take users of Heroin of methadone to a completely drug free lifestyle….just keep the merry go round spinning for big pharma.
There needs to be investment in residential detox.
Addicts going into prisons should be put on detox.
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