The number of homeowners in arrears has risen once again and banks are still failing to offer their customers in trouble long-term restructuring deals.
The Central Bank said today that 97,874 mortgages were more than 90 days in arrears at the end of June.
That is equivalent to 12.7% of all mortgages and it is an increases on the 12.3% of loans that were three months in arrears at the end of March.
There was a 3.3% drop in the number of customers in distress falling into long-term arrears, the Central Bank said. The number of buy-to-let loans in arrears rose to 20.4% at the end of June from 19.7%.
The figures also show that putting distressed borrowers onto interest-only repayment plans is still the favourite method for banks to deal with the mortgages crisis, despite the Central Bank demanding that different options be put to borrowers.
One of its favourite options - so-called split mortgages, where part of the debt is parked for decades - is not being offered to many borrowers. Just 309 customers in arrears were offered split mortgages.
By comparison there were just over 21,000 customers who were on interest-only agreements with their banks.
The Central Bank has given lenders a series of deadlines to offer long-term restructuring plans to customer. The first deadline expired at the end of June when banks had to write to 20% of customers in arrears setting out their options.
The Central Bank has said that if the banks fail to meet those targets will face having to hold higher levels of capital.
The Central Bank is set to audit the offers sent to customers in the coming weeks. The results of the audit will not be known for several months, banking sources told Newstalk.
The Irish Banking Federation said in a statement that the move from short-term forbearance to longer-term sustainable resolutions will take time some time to conclude.
The figures released today still low a relatively low level of home repossessions with a total of 1,001 properties currently in the possession of banks. During the quarter banks sold 133 repossessed home.
About 142,000 mortgages were either in arrears or restructured at the end of June out of a total of 770,000 mortgage loans.
