Thousands of Variable Rate mortgage holders in Ireland are being ripped off every month by the interest rate they are being charged by Vulture Funds who have purchased these mortgages from the banks who originally provided the loans.
This price gouging is being done with the full knowledge of the Regulator, which has a stated obligation to prevent this type of thing, and successive Governments, who have clearly recognised that the victims, as a disparate group of unconnected individuals, have no ability to influence the outcome of Elections, and hence their interests are not worth protecting.
This is not a new phenomena. The Vulture Funds are simply continuing the price gouging practices that the banks before them were carrying out.
These Vulture Funds are charging between 4% and 5% above the European Central Bank (ECB) interest rates on Variable Rate mortgages. This means that for every €100,000 you have borrowed they are making between €4,000 and €5,000 profit per annum. EVERY YEAR. Therefore, if you have a €500,000 Variable Rate mortgage with a Vulture Fund they are making between €20,000 and €25,000 profit on your loan EVERY YEAR. Remember – they also have the deeds of your house. They may argue that Irish laws make it difficult to force someone to sell a family home in the event of default, but that doesn’t mean they won’t get paid eventually – they will.
Compounding the despicableness of this practice is that these Vulture Funds have bought these mortgages from their rip-off predecessors at a fraction of their value. What this means is that they could charge you 0% above ECB interest rates and still make a super-normal profit.
In the words of a former Irish Police Commissioner: “It’s disgusting.”
We can all safely assume that none of the individuals who work for the Regulator or the individual politicians, who have the ability to resolve this disgraceful practice, themselves have Variable Rate mortgages. You can be sure the practice would have been stamped out a long time ago if they did.
If anything is going to be done to address this long-term stain on the financial services industry in Ireland the Variable Rate mortgage holders will need to do it themselves.
We’re not accepting this price gouging any longer.
Collective Action is required.
This website and the related Twitter page is the first step in this direction.
Join us now for free, if:
- You have a Standard Variable Rate mortgage and are getting ripped off every month
- You don’t have a Standard Variable Rate mortgage but have a low tolerance level for price gouging.
Please share this post with all of your own contacts – if the Regulators and the Politicians won’t help us, our best chance of success is the support of ordinary decent civilians.
Comments welcome below.
