Calls for cashback mortgages probe before State uses money to back Ulster Bank loans sale

The Government has placed its State-owned Permanent TSB as well as AIB, which owns the EBS mortgage lender, in the lead positions to buy large parts of the Ulster Bank's €20bn loan books, of which €15bn is accounted for by mortgage loans

Ulster Bank Republic head offices on George's Quay in Dublin. File picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

The Government will need to launch an investigation into "the exploitation" of first-time homebuyers lured by cashback incentives before it commits taxpayers' money into State-owned banks Permanent TSB and AIB buying out loans from Ulster Bank, the country's leading mortgage experts have said. 

Leading mortgage broker Michael Dowling and Brendan Burgess of the Irish personal finance website Askaboutmoney.com have told the Irish Examiner that watchdogs, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, or CCPC, and the Central Bank have key roles to play to outlaw cashback incentives which they say have been used by the banks with the most to benefit from the exit of Ulster Bank to drive up mortgage rates.