Family had €200k written off mortgage

A couple in mortgage arrears, whose bank wrote off €200,000 of their mortgage, say their story will “give hope” to homeowners in similar situations.

The family, from Macroom, Co Cork, and their solicitor struck the deal with an American sub-prime lender. Their solicitor predicts that once the new personal insolvency laws come into place this summer, more banks will cut their losses rather than go down the pricey bankruptcy route.

Greg O’Brien was a project manager with a construction firm until he lost his job in 2009. His wife Caitriona didn’t work outside the home and they had a €360,000 mortgage on a five-bedroomed home they had bought and renovated five years earlier.