The Last Word on TodayFM features Irish Mortgage Brokers, 30/04/2020

We were part of a discussion around Covid19 and mortgages on Matt Cooper’s ‘The Last Word’ show on Today FM yesterday. The other participant was Brian Hayes of the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland.

For our part we were impressed with the fact that the banks have been able to do more than 2,000 mortgage restructures per working day since the pandemic driven mortgage breaks were announced. To put that in perspective, it took six years to do 100,000 restructures after the financial crisis. This time around that figure could be achieved in a little over two months, that is something to be commended.

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Making housing more affordable

This paper was written by Karl Deeter and covers many different aspects of housing in Ireland. It was written last year so there are parts of it that are not as current as we’d like it to be. Publishing was delayed for various reasons, but we hope that it provides a good background on the many facets of housing delivery in Ireland where some changes could make a difference to delivery.

The bad news is that there isn’t any one ‘grand idea’, the good news is that smaller changes across different areas of housing could help to provide a more steady stream of affordable homes in the future.

The working report  Making housing affordable in Ireland is in the link, there are still final views, corrections and critiques to consider, but it should give the reader a good insight into housing problems and housing solutions in Ireland today.

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Opening times and service during the Covid19 crisis.

We are dedicated to serving our clients in the face of any interruption or adversity. For this reason we have made arrangments for our team to work remotely other than for some of the management who are taking care of essential elements of the business and in line with the Central Bank of Ireland guidelines on the matter.

We are still able to work with you online, our team have phones diverted to their mobiles or are using software phones in remote locations. There are going to be delays though, that is to be expected as bank teams are very busy and also trying to work remotely. We will monitor the situation and update you should anything change, if there is no update you can assume we are back to full regular business ‘as usual’ upon the announcement that people can return to work.

 

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Covid19 update

Due to the coronavirus pandemic our company is doing what we can to keep staff safe while still serving our customers through what can be a very stressful experience.

This has meant that some staff are observing self-isolation, others are working remotely and within our office building we are all segregated into different rooms, one person per office Normally the offices are shared.

Along with this there are issues with banks, longer holding times on call lines, reduced staff in the lending teams and banks are also trying to deal with existing customers who require assistance at this time with mortgage payment help.

So while we are still open, doing our best to close loans that are near drawdown and assist people who need us, there are significant delays within the system that are beyond our control.

In short, everything will be the same as it usually is but with delays and depending on developments that may arise regarding any government decisions these delays may become more or less protracted. Our intention is to go along with whatever the prevailing …

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The Rise of Income Inequality in the United States Part 3

Now that we’ve assessed how wealth inequality started and how to improve wealth and saving data, here are some ideas about how to further reduce wealth disparity:

The top 1% savings rate is much higher than both the next 9% and bottom 90% savings rates. One idea that is radical is to encourage long-run savings. The United States government could directly invest in these savings accounts so that they earn great rates of return. The other aspect of this plan would be to have interest in borrowing savings so as to encourage people not to borrow from their savings. Encouraging saving of the bottom 90% would reduce wealth disparity.

Other ideas to reduce wealth disparity include the following:

Increase progressive income taxation to decrease wealth disparity. Increase estate taxes in the United States to decrease inherited wealth Increase access to education and health benefits cost controls. Improve minimum wage policies. This will in effect shift power from shareholders to workers. Create better laws protecting consumers (such as predatory lending) and increase financial regulation to increase middle class wealth. Educate the bottom …

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Ireland and Massachusetts (USA): Compare and Contrast of Jobseeker’s Allowance

Unemployment is a stressful time of one’s life. The fear of not knowing where your next paycheck is going to come from, and if you are going to have enough to put food on your table, is very real for many people. I will examine the different government allowances in Ireland and the United States to see how these countries compare and contrast when helping out their unemployed when they are finding their next jobs.

In Ireland, Jobseeker’s Allowance is a type of payment that Ireland government pays the unemployed. The allowance payment is a means-tested payment, meaning an unemployed individual would have to fall lower than the average of specific income qualifications. This allowance payment is paid out by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). To qualify, one must:

Be Between 18 and 66 Be Unemployed Actively be seeking work (with proof) Satisfy the means-test Be a proven habitual resident (living in Ireland with some permanence)

In order to satisfy the means-test, the DEASP observes your personal cash income, savings and other assets. However, the DEASP …

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Bank loans in Bulgaria

Bank loans in Bulgaria

My name is Hristo Dimitrov. I’m a student from Varna Bulgaria.

How to pick bank loans in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria you can borrow relatively easily for an apartment and pay it off within 30 years. The maximum loan amount for the banks are up to EUR 200,000.  Also, Bulgaria has low interest rates compared to other countries. The best conditions for buying a home are on Postbank

And DSK Bank.

For specific rules and percentages, you can look at them.

APR at individual interest rate selected for the purposes of the example * – 3.66%

An example of a fixed interest rate for the last 3 years and a variable interest rate (benchmark interest rate + margin) for the remaining term of the loan when included in the DSK Coz Plus Sales Prohibition Program.

 

The long-term interest rate for the implementation of the DSK Coz Plus program can be set in the range of 3.00% to 4.49%.

 

 

Amount of credit

BGN 100,000

 

Monthly payment

448,49 BGN

 

Term of the loan

30 …

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The Rise of Income Inequality in the United States Part 2

Previously, I discussed the theory that wealth inequality is growing in the United States. A lot of this wealth inequality is due to the fact that Americans don’t report all of their information regarding their taxes. The following are some ways to improve wealth and saving data:

Employer pensions could be accurately estimated as well as the value of homes Other financial institutions could report balances as well. This would improve wealth distribution estimates. The concentration of taxable capital income has risen enormously for the 0.1%. This percentage used to be 10% in the 1960s and 1970s and has grown to 33% (2012). The rise coincides with the Tax Reform Act of 1986 reflecting changes in tax avoidance rather than in the distribution of true economic value. Some profits of partnerships and s-corps include income labor component reflecting a rise of top entrepreneurial income rather than pure capital income. Dividends and interest earned through mutual funds, s-corporations, partnerships, holding companies, and some trusts end up being included in the interest and dividends section of the ultimate individual owner’s tax return. …

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Affordability Tradeoffs – Food for Thought

“Virtually anything can be made more affordable in isolation, simply by transferring resources to it from elsewhere in the economy” -Thomas Sowell (American economist and social theorist)

Three of the primary things Bernie Sanders, an American presidential candidate, is trying to make more affordable are housing college, health insurance. Has anybody stopped to ask, what will happen to the economy three steps down the line if his policies were to be enacted? Thomas Sowell believes that transferring extensive resources from other activities to subsidize an exorbitant luxury makes the country poorer as a whole.

Medicare for all is estimated to cost between 2.8-3.2 trillion U.S. dollars per year. This is an exorbitant luxury. Housing for all is estimated to cost 2.5 trillion dollars. This is an exorbitant luxury. College for All would cost 70 billion per year from the state and national governments per year. This doesn’t mention his cancel all student debt plan (student debt in the united states is currently 1.6 trillion dollars. This is an exorbitant luxury.

Bernie Sanders’ plan fails to recognize tradeoffs and opportunity costs. Price …

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