RTE Investigates [RTE 1]

When will they investigate themselves?

That BMW wouldn't last a second if it were me that was shafted like this. Amazing how she is getting away with it. Amazing how more of the "victims" haven't even confronted her. Imagine handing over 30k and receiving BS holding text messages for 24 months and not driving down to Kilkenny looking for answers. Mad stuff all round. Before I have to much sympathy for the "victims" I'd like to know how distressed their actual loans were. Were any homes actually repossessed and were any of them even in court about it. I get the feeling a lot of them were looking for cheap way out of their financial commitments and believed all of the Jerry Beades land league bullshit doing the rounds at the time. They though they could pull the wool over the banks eyes.

Carey's shenanigans are obviously illegal. It's theft.

The victims though were not and are not vulnerable. The are stupid. That's harsh but it's true.

It really is quite baffling to be honest, she is also not listed on the mortgage according to the report.

To my mind the only story I'm believing without any doubts is the lady from Cork (I think) , she borrowed the 5K .

Not a single person interviewed was actually asked about their mortgage situation, what led to them being duped, was their a repossession pending ( I suspect there was) , had they maintained mortgage payments, even interest only.

I don't ask these questions to be critical of the victims but it certainly would have been more objective had RTE given more insight into the victims situation rather than allow people assume their backs were up against the wall .

I'm sorry you went through that and hope you came out the other side. Its precisely experiences like yours and many more that I believe there was a repossession case pending or in progress, your correct , they can take years but equally much quicker depending on circumstances, particularly if there is no effort by the homeowners to engage .

I read recently for example a local circut Court had 134 repossession cases listed , this is a Midlands Town. All adjourned and many already adjourned multiple times.

Without knowing the victims stories (apart from getting duped) it's difficult to really reach an objective opinion and I just felt the main program did not adequately cover what led to this victims being duped.

Apologies, I didn't realise it was your brother, but yes absolutely, it s all about engaging and when at all possible maintaining a payment, even if was interest only. My own mortgage was sold to a Vulture fund along with 12k by PTSB I had challenges (medical) reduced earnings but tiny arrears and small mortgage remaining. I never got to a repossession situation. Cleared arrears gradually and restructured , so I have a little understanding on your brothers experience 😏

She spent about a thousand euro in Armani, not twenty two thousand. Her whole holiday to Florida cost 22k.

She is Irish resident and domiciled as pointed out by another poster. That means she is subject to tax in Ireland on her worldwide income. She is given a tax credit for any tax she pays in the UK. So Revenue could hit her with an estimate for tax based on her personal expenses paid from UK bank account and then she would have to prove her tax returns filed in the UK to get the Irish Tax credit.

Simply, Irish Revenue require resident, domicile citizens to declare their Worldwide Income. Money taking by a Director for personal use are considered drawings/salary.

So if she has drawings form that UK company of €200,000 she would owe Revenue over €100k in tax, usc. She would get a credit for any taxed paid in the UK of same. Do you think she paid any personal tax in the UK.

She resides in Ireland, It's easier for Revenue to go after her first. Given her past Revenue fraud for VAT, I'd imagine Revenue are very interested in pursuing her.

Now I see the point , thank you.

So in essence the expenditure as seen on the bank statements if determined as personal expenditure (E Z Living in kilkemny) for example or holidays that would be classed as drawings / salary 🤔 now I get it 😏

yes, that was a 10 minute follow up, showing bank statements and tracking the money withdrawn for cars, holidays, designer clothes etc.

Fascinating thread and interesting investigations. My own tuppence worth:

To me the scam is perfectly plausible and I speak as a qualified accountant who had direct experience of dealing with distressed loans. I don’t get the victim blaming at all.

Vulture funds work exactly as described in the scam. They buy a loan at a deep discount and either the borrower can refinance a compromise figure or the Vultures foreclose. The Vultures generally work at a price of 35% of the loan or 35% of the asset value whichever is the lower. Banks will go through with these crazy deals because of the “moral danger” to functioning borrowers.. ie , as one poster put it, why would I pay my mortgage when my neighbor paid nothing for a couple of years and now he is getting 2/3rds written off?”

Knowing that, and these people seem to have been getting advice from what they thought was a barrister and being introduced to an “accountant” who was on the side of the small man as they thought, it would definitely have looked plausible. Particularly so when you get a contract saying no foal no fee drawn up by what you thought was a solicitor.

All in all it is a pretty ingenious scam with the slight drawback of no way out unless she intended running a Ponzi scheme by refunding the loudest squealers and everyone knew who she was and where she was. But that makes the scam even more plausible in my view.