Dealing with mortgage repayment difficulties
At KBC Bank Ireland plc, we understand that the current economic environment presents challenges for many of our customers. Download KBC Bank Ireland’s Guide to our Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process
Act Early
The earlier we are made aware of your difficulties, the sooner we can start to work together to find a solution. We will discuss a number of solutions which may be available to you to assist you to meet your mortgage commitments and help you avoid falling into arrears.
Get in touch with KBC today
Avoid unnecessary charges
By dealing with your arrears, you may be able to avoid a number of possible consequences such as your credit rating being adversely affected, incurring bank fees and charges (please click here for a list of these), legal fees and house repossession. So please contact us today if you are in any difficulty.
Our 5 step process to help you.
KBC Bank Ireland has a five step process to help you if you fall behind in your mortgage repayments or if you are at risk of falling behind. This is called our Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) and is part our obligations under the Central Bank of Ireland’s Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears (Jan 2011)*. Click on the steps for more detail.
If you are having difficulties meeting your mortgage repayments or think you will in the near future, please contact our Customer Support Team on 1850 930 650.
If you have already fallen into arrears, please contact our Collections Team on 1850 930 235.
These teams are here to help you and will work with you to endeavour to find solution to assist you in meeting your monthly mortgage payments.
In order to achieve this, it will be necessary for us to keep in touch with you. We would ask that you ensure the lines of communication are kept open by providing us with current contact details, promptly returning our phone calls and responding to our correspondence in a timely manner.
When you contact us, we will ask you to complete a Standard Financial Statement and give details of your current circumstances. We will also ask for supporting documents, which may include bank statements, business accounts, payslips and your P60.
You may wish to seek independent advice to assist you with completing the Standard Financial Statement, e.g., from MABS or an appropriate alternative.
Click here to download the KBC Bank Ireland Standard Financial Statement.
Click here to download the KBC Bank Ireland Guide to Completing the Standard Financial Statement
We will use the information you provide us to assess your individual situation. In doing so, we will give careful consideration:
- Your personal circumstances
- Your overall personal debt
- The information provided in the Standard Financial Statement
- Your current ability to make repayments
- Your previous payment history
- Any other relevant information
We have a number of alternative repayment arrangements that we can look at, depending on your circumstances. These arrangements include:
- Paying interest and part of the normal capital for a specified period of time
- Paying interest only for a specified period of time
- Extending your mortgage over a longer term
- Capitalising arrears – adding arrears to the loan and repaying them over an agreed period
- Deferring part or all of your mortgage repayment for a specified period of time
- Changing the type of your mortgage, for example from a fixed rate to a variable rate. It is important to note that a fixed rate break funding fee may apply.
We will write to you outlining your proposed repayment arrangement. Please contact us if you have any queries and we will be happy to discuss these with you.
Please note that while some of these options will decrease your repayment in the short term, they will cause the overall cost of you mortgage to increase. It is important that you fully understand the implications of any new arrangement before you go ahead with it and we recommend that you take independent advice before entering into the arrangement.
If one of these options is deemed appropriate and put in place, we will write to you at least every 6 months to review the appropriateness of the arrangement.
It may not be possible to reach a resolution in all cases, and in such cases we will write to you with the reasons for our decision.
We cannot ignore the fact that you may be in arrears, write off your arrears or ignore broken arrangements, but we can help you deal with your financial challenges.
Mortgages are, by their nature, long term loans. Should your financial circumstances improve, you may decide to accelerate your payments to repay your mortgage over a shorter term or make lump sum payments (if you are on a variable rate). Options and arrangements made today do not necessarily have to stay in place for the remainder of the life of your mortgage.
Under our Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process, you will not be required to change from an existing tracker rate to another mortgage rate as part of any alternative arrangement.
You may submit an appeal to us in relation to:
- a decision made through our Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process
- our treatment of your mortgage repayment arrangement through our Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process or
- our compliance with the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears
This appeal must be made in writing to the KBC Bank Ireland Appeals Board (see “Useful Contacts & Information”) within 21 business days of the receipt of our decision notification.
If you are not satisfied with the decision of the Appeals Board, you have the right to contact the Financial Services Ombudsman (see “Useful Contacts & Information”).
