Has Your Mortgage Been Sold To An Irish Vulture Fund?

Since the 2008 crash, millions of people in Ireland have fallen victim to ‘vulture funds’. These funds are known to purchase non-performing loans for next to nothing and then ruthlessly pursue homeowners for the money owed.

If you have been in arrears at any point, or availed of financial relief to pay your mortgage, there is a good chance a vulture fund now owns your mortgage. Quite often, the first you will know of this loan sale is a threatening letter from the fund that has purchased it. Once these letters start, they will only get more aggressive and threatening.

“I Received a Letter From a Vulture Fund, Should I be Worried?”

Unfortunately, the simple answer is, yes. Vulture funds purchase debt for reduced amounts on the basis that they can recover enough money to make a profit. This means that they are willing to spend a lot more time and effort to recover the full amount owed.

In addition to this, their only role is to recover money. This means they are a lot more efficient and act more quickly than traditional banks like AIB and Bank of Ireland.

The strategies that vulture funds use for recovering money are broadly similar but, some are more aggressive than others. If your mortgage has been sold to any of the vulture funds operating in Ireland, you need to seek professional advice. However, if you receive a letter from any of these funds, you need to act now as they will act more quickly and aggressively:

What You Can Expect From a Vulture Fund

Vulture funds often seem like they are friendly and easy to deal with when they initially purchase a loan. However, if you are unable to meet their financial demands, they can quickly become extremely difficult to deal with.

Banks and Vulture Funds have been using the same techniques to recover money from Irish homeowners since the 2008 crash. The key differences with vulture funds are:

• They employ much more aggressive techniques to recover debts.
• They are more persistent and will not stop until you have paid them.
• They will continue to add charges and additional fees to the original debt.
• They can be harder to negotiate and achieve a settlement with, but it is possible, with the right help.

If you fail to pay your mortgage, these funds will be a lot more likely to evict you and repossess your home. They can also take legal action to force you to repay the debt. In the worst-case scenario, you could even face bankruptcy if your property is in negative equity.