Teacher beats lender’s plan to make her and sons homeless

A teacher has fought off attempts by a sub-prime lender to render herself and her two sons homeless.

At the Personal Insolvency Court in Ennis, Judge Patrick Meaghan approved a deal that allows Limerick secondary school teacher Niamh Spencer stay in her family home with her sons, aged eight and five, and enjoy a €113,000 writedown on her €309,000 mortgage with Start Mortgages Ltd (SML).

After the writedown and an additional €56,000 to be ‘warehoused’, Ms Spencer now has a €140,000 mortgage — 45% of what was owed.