BoI launches mortgage options for people stuck in negative equity

Bank of Ireland has launched a range of mortgage options to allow more people in negative equity to move house.

Existing customers with the bank will be assessed before being offered the option of trading up or trading down in terms of the value of their new home, and carrying an amount of negative equity with them.

The bank says many customers who wanted to move in the past could afford the mortgage repayments but the equity remaining on their existing property was blocking the move.

Head of Residential Mortgage lending at Bank of Ireland Jonathan Byrne said: "We have a real and significant role to play in terms of supporting the recovery of the Irish economy.

"These announcements are not a panacea for everything, but they are a solution for certain customers who see it as their best route forward."