‘Stick together’ say couple who lose home

A COURAGEOUS couple with five children whose home was repossessed yesterday warned debt-ridden families facing the loss of their home to “stick together.”

The Cavan parents gave up the fight for their family bungalow home and admitted afterwards that lender Start Mortgages should never have given them a mortgage in the first place.

The family was willing to give up the home near the town of Ballyjamesduff to the lender within six months as the couple didn’t “see any other option”, the High Court heard.

“It’s going on too long now, we can’t do it anymore,” the wife said in court.

The husband told Judge Brian McGovern how loans had accumulated, including substantial credit card debt.

The trained mechanic said the family house – which he had built over two years – was home to five children, aged from 18 months to 18 years.

His wife said the family had started looking for accommodation elsewhere near the children’s schools.

The court heard that the family dormer bungalow – priced at €320,000 – had failed to sell, to help repay the mortgage.

After Judge McGovern described the family’s situation as “pretty bleak,” lawyers for Start Mortgages decided to waive their legal costs. “That’s a small amount of comfort [for them],” said the judge.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, the couple described their relief but also their heartache at having to give up their home.

“We wanted to cut our losses and move away from it,” said the wife.

The couple had only told their children that the family was moving home.

Asked what the family would advise others facing the repossession of their homes, the couple declared: “Stick together.”

The parents said they had got into difficulty with mortgage repayments a year after taking out a €306,000 loan with Start Mortgages in 2007. The 40-year loan had an interest rate of 8.3%.

By mid-June 2008, the Cavan family were facing arrears of over €45,000 and over the following year were only able to make sporadic repayments of less than €100 a month.

The mother-of five added: “It’s a loan we never should have gotten from the beginning. It was way beyond our means.”

A total of 75 possession cases were listed for hearing before the court yesterday, 30 of which related to cases involving Start Mortgages.

In a separate case, the court heard how a husband whose wife had severe epilepsy was trying to cling onto the family home.

The father-of-one told the judge his own parents had agreed to go guarantor on the Kildare home loan.

But lenders ACC Bank said €327,000 was still due and arrears were now in the order of €91,000.

The homeowner told how despite two job offers, he had failed to get employment and had wanted to stay close to the home and his wife who had “chronic epilepsy.”

Judge McGovern adjourned the case until October saying if no progress was made by then, there was little the court could do.