The issue of mortgage write-downs or ‘debt forgiveness’ has been a very thorny one in Ireland ever since the Irish banks effectively collapsed and were taken into state ownership. Thousands of home-owners lost their jobs at about the same time as the value of their property plunged. They found themselves in negative equity, preventing them from selling their now-devalued property and trapping them in apartment blocks and rural housing estates in a vicious circle that is hard to escape. The realization that a certain level of mortgage write-downs would have to be granted was greeted with a mixture of despair … Continue reading Lose Your Cable TV If You Want a Mortgage Write-Down