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Miss Ireland Knows
Posted by Old Boy
I heard it on the radio
That we’re improvised once again
I heard it on the radio
That
Miss Ireland knows
Cause she can’t buy
Any clothes
Oh
Miss Ireland Knows
The boys from sprout are here to foreclose
And move us to a land undisclosed
And those that stay will have to pay
A penal penalty dear
For Miss Ireland knows
The country is short on dough
Cause she can’t buy any clothes
Oh Miss Island knows
The Govermnent calls on the Telephone
Ireland calling sprout Zone
Ireland calling
The meltdown has come
Fill the bowl
Fill the bowl
For the money is gone
And the Tombstones of the poor
Have disappeared
To be sold in Kenmare
For miss Ireland knows
The country is short on dough
Cause she can’t buy any clothes
Oh
Miss Ireland knows
The men are drinking pints of bitter tears
And tasting the ashes of decay and arrears
Verbalizing into unhearing ears
Coursing through their veins are cries of desperation
Witnessing the closing doors of desolation
Oh how the river cascades full of trials and tribulations
Oh how the river flows
Deep down in their souls
They know fear is on the march
For they are afflicted by a fiscal tightrope
From whose scorn their is no hope
Can they escape to grow old?
Without the serfdom of being controlled
Let’s have revolution
Let’s have a new constitution
Let’s flee through the trap door
To find the allure
Of The elusive Cote D’Or
All that my friends
Is true
For
Miss Ireland knows
The country is short on dough
Cause she can’t buy
Any clothss
Oh
Miss Ireland Knows
Bank sends letter over €5 mortgage arrears
Posted by Old Boy
How many of us are busting a gut to keep up with mortgage repayments? And how many are just a missed pay packet away from joining the 169,000 or so people who are in currently in arrears or in difficulty with their mortgage?
So when you are actually managing to pay the mortgage every month, it can be disconcerting to receive a letter from the bank that refers to arrears, credit rating and repossession. I received a MARP (Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process) booklet in the post from Ulster Bank last week along with a letter informing me that I’m in arrears to the tune of €5.28. It goes on to say, “Under the regulation covering MARP, we must tell you that: If you miss your mortgage repayments it will affect your credit rating, which may affect your ability to get a loan in the future. If your home is ever repossessed, that would also affect your credit rating.”
So for the sake of just over €5, they are reminding me that missing a repayment will affect my credit rating and and that losing my home would affect my credit rating. I’m guessing if my home is repossessed, my credit rating won’t be uppermost on my mind.
It also said the bank had written previously about the matter .
I didn’t receive the previous letter but it struck me that rather than sending me two letters and a booklet to inform me about this massive debt, they might cast their mind back to their technical meltdown during the summer and deduce that the shortfall might somehow arise from this period.
If their systems hadn’t been down for some weeks and the payment was taken by direct debit as normal, then this mistake would never have happened . Now stick that in your bad credit rating.
When I phoned the bank to find out why I got a letter about such a small amount, the guy I spoke said under the law that banks have to send out a letter to customers “even if they are only 3 cent in debt.”
Is it just me or is that a complete departure from common sense? Shouldn’t there be at least one missed mortgage payment or at least an inquiry into why there’s a shortfall before a bank goes into overdrive, spouting out letters and booklets? No, according to Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers who says that much of the banking system is automated and for a payment to be €5 short it would normally mean that it was done manually (at a branch) rather than by direct debit, because a direct debit will either clear in full or not .
“An arrear is typically formed when payment due is not cleared in full at the end of the ‘grace period’ which in Ireland is 30 days. This means that if you were short €10 on a €100 loan that after 30 days you would be €10 in arrears, if this happened 10 times in a row you would then be a month behind. This happens in mortgages that you see a loan classed as being 90 days in arrears, but in fact the problem has been ongoing for 2 years not 90 days (it has to do with the way it accrues rather than being a specific zero payment for three months).”
He sees no problem with the banks sending out letters to people who are behind by tiny amounts. “Prevention is better than cure. It’s better to get in there early if someone needs help than when it’s too late. If they don’t need the help then they can throw the booklet in the bin.”
He has no sympathy for people who that don’t appreciate being pulled up over a small amount and thinks the bank take the view they are being pro-active and showing some civic responsibility. But wouldn’t it be a more sensible approach if they first inquired into the cause of the shortfall before bandying the “c” word (ie credit rating) about while informing you about what will happen if your home is repossessed?
via Home Truths » Bank sends letter over €5 mortgage arrears.
via Home Truths » Bank sends letter over €5 mortgage arrears.
Posted in IMF/ECB
Tags: Arrears, Bank, Banks, Business, Credit rating, Euro, Ireland, Irish, Irish News, Mortgage loan, Ulster Bank
How Vulnerable is Sterling?
Posted by Old Boy
Fitch warns UK could lose is AAA rating.
This could mean further bad news for Ireland. If sterling weakens, our exports become more expensive, which will lead to additional job losses in Ireland.
Britain is edging closer to losing its gold-plated sovereign credit rating due to weak growth and increased government borrowing, rating’s agency Fitch has warned. It reconfirmed Britain’s “negative outlook”, slashed its forecast growth from 0.8per cent to a 0.3per cent for this year. It warned that international debt would hit almost 100pc of GDP. Bear in mind the UK has yet to factor in pensions and bank liabilities into Government figures. Once these numbers become part of the accounts, its level of debt is similar to our own.
Moreover, for some unknown reason nobody appears to care that the UK or the US governments’ debts are unlikely to be repaid. However, if they ever do start caring, we will observe interesting but catastrophic times.
In the case of Italy, for example, the debt was there and had been there for years, but nobody had ever bothered. Then suddenly, the markets decided to care, and we all know what happened.
Maybe the chickens are coming home to roost in the UK for their financially and economically illiterate Government. For the subjects of her Majesties Government one hopes not
The sad part is that the people must suffer and the only beneficiaries of these difficulties are the International banking system. You will see and observe that in each country their aim is to dismantle the welfare state leaving the citizens at the mercy of international business
Posted in Government
Tags: Banks, Bond credit rating, Credit rating, Fitch, Fitch Group, Government debt, Gross domestic product, Ireland, UK, United States