Howlin Washes his hands of Mortgage Responsibility

national | housing | news report Monday October 24, 2011 19:46 by PAW - People's Association Watchdog

The People's Association Watchdog recently sent a letter to all TDs with a proposal regarding mortgage debt solutions, to our dismay one of the replies received was from Minister Howlin's Office to say "As this is a matter for the Mr. Michael Noonan T.D., Minister for Finance your email has been forwarded onto his Department for attention and direct reply." Has Minister Howlin forgotten the Keane report already? He is minister for Public Expenditure and Equality and his department had the 2nd highest amount of participants in the Keane report. It would appear that Minister Howlin is doing a Pontius Pilate and washing his hands of all the distressed mortgage holders that are being sacrificed at the behest of his banking masters.

Dear Minister,


As you may be aware, we at the People's Association Watchdog are working hard on finding solutions
To the mortgage debt crisis that has our country in it's death grip, we have paid great attention to all of the reports, recommendations and proposals that have been put forward by so called expert groups, we have noticed the huge bias in the make up of these groups and the welfare of the people most affected are secondary to the wellbeing of the bond holders, this is very noticeable from the most recent Keane report whereby the banking institutions had 5 representatives while the department for equality had only 2, in fact of the 22 participants in the Keane report 14 of them were financial representatives; (5 Banking, 5 Dept. Of Finance, 4 Dept of Public Expenditure).

We in PAW are looking for some redress in balance, we are wide open to all discussions and debate, we are not looking for debt write-offs or debt forgiveness, on the contrary, we are all about finding a solution that is appropriate and balanced to all involved to ensure that the economy can continue to recover while allowing distressed mortgages holders to deal effectively and positively with their level of indebtedness without suffering excessive hardship.

Particular attention has been given to both the Cooney & Keane reports along with all of the press statements and government comments, All of these have one thing in common, they are all lacking concrete figures with which to work on and assess, this makes everything contained within these papers as nothing more than hypothetical suggestions. Arguments, reports and cross talk consume a great deal of time, energy and resources while no solid solution is ever proposed.

We would like to offer an alternative, common sense, affordable and socially acceptable solution, we have heard time and again the mantra of "people who can't pay and people who won't pay", well this proposal is based on exactly that, the affordability to the homeowner while still remaining within €5billion allocated to the banking industry through the Bailout.
Please see our proposal below, it can be tweaked to suit families or lone homeowners by simply adjusting the percentage to be repaid I.e. Drop of 1% per child per household etc.

(A) Net Income (B)  Percentage payable of Net Income (C)Weekly amount of Net Income payable (D) Net Income remaining (E)  Monthly Payments (F) Remaining Monthy Income.
      A              B               C                D                  E                    F
€186.00     10.00%     €18.60      €167.40      €74.40         €669.60
€210.00     11.00%     €23.10      €186.90      €92.40         €747.60
€230.00     12.00%    €27.60       €202.40      €110.40       €809.60
€250.00     13.00%    €32.50       €217.50      €130.00       €870.00
€270.00     14.00%    €37.80       €232.20      €151.20       €928.80
€300.00     15.00%    €45.00       €255.00      €180.00       €1,020.00
€325.00     16.00%    €52.00       €273.00      €208.00       €1,092.00
€350.00     17.00%    €59.50       €290.50      €238.00       €1,162.00
€400.00     18.00%    €72.00       €328.00      €288.00       €1,312.00
€450.00     20.00%    €90.00       €360.00      €360.00       €1,440.00
€500.00     22.00%    €110.00     €390.00      €440.00       €1,560.00
€550.00     24.00%    €132.00     €418.00      €528.00       €1,672.00
€600.00     26.00%    €156.00     €444.00      €624.00       €1,776.00
€650.00     28.00%    €182.00     €468.00      €728.00       €1,872.00
€700.00     30.00%    €210.00     €490.00      €840.00       €1,960.00
€750.00     33.00%    €247.50     €502.50      €990.00       €2,010.00
€800.00     35.00%    €280.00     €520.00      €1,120.00    €2,080.00
€850.00     38.00%    €323.00     €527.00      €1,292.00     €2,108.00
€900.00     40.00%    €360.00     €540.00      €1,440.00     €2,160.00
€950.00     42.00%    €399.00     €551.00      €1,596.00     €2,204.00
€1,000.00 44.00%    €440.00     €560.00       €1,760.00     €2,240.00
 
I would be very grateful if you would please give this proposal your consideration and refer back at your earliest convenience for further discussions.

Yours Sincerely
Mr. P Grant
People's Association Watchdog

Mr Howlin's Reply:

 24 October 2011

 Dear Mr Grant

 Many thanks for your email dated 21 October 2011 regarding a mortgage debt solution.

As this is a matter for the Mr. Michael Noonan T.D., Minister for Finance your email has been forwarded onto his Department for attention and direct reply.

 Yours sincerely

Minister Howlin’s Offie